Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 8,610 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $173.38 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.45. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp cut their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

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.