Regal Investment Advisors LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 37,764 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $927,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,184,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,384,039,000 after purchasing an additional 704,875 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,497 shares of company stock worth $20,837,150 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $161.47 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.71.

Alphabet Profile

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.