Waverly Advisors LLC Has $17.50 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 91,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,793 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 30,843 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,874,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Atwater Malick LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 46.1% in the 4th quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 9,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after acquiring an additional 2,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3%

GOOG stock opened at $167.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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. The business has a fifty day moving average of $160.17 and a 200-day moving average of $176.74.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. 12.99% of the stock is 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.