IMG Wealth Management Inc. Invests $278,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 4,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $826,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 29,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,890,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $167.62 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $187.41 and its 200 day moving average is $178.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.13 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.