Bouchey Financial Group Ltd Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bouchey Financial Group Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the period. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sentinel Trust Co. LBA grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Sentinel Trust Co. LBA now owns 9,036 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,721,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 29,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,544,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Fusion Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $227,000. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 105,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,005,000 after buying an additional 2,034 shares during the period. Finally, A&I Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $423,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

Alphabet stock opened at $172.22 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 132,942 shares of company stock valued at $24,824,539 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.