Vertex Planning Partners LLC Buys 169 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,483 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 169 shares during the quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $1,445,000. Cynosure Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 42.8% in the third quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 3,861 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 42.9% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 19,288 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,225,000 after buying an additional 5,791 shares during the period. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 92,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,545,000 after buying an additional 5,644 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $164.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $148.20 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 24th. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.