Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,581 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 5,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $863,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 29,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,967,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,884,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $167.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.07 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $189.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.