Headland Capital LLC Makes New $468,000 Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Headland Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,459 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000. Alphabet makes up 0.2% of Headland Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $162.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $163.26 and its 200 day moving average is $177.23. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.