Simon Quick Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,836 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Phillips Financial Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $199.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $203.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $186.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.