May Barnhard Investments LLC Purchases New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

May Barnhard Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $937,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Swedbank AB increased its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 306,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $51,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares during the period. Parthenon LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Parthenon LLC now owns 139,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,297,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 38,858 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $164.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $187.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.92. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.13 and a twelve month high of $208.70. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.