Sunbelt Securities Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,481 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.6% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 10,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,963,000 after buying an additional 2,133 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 238,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,468,000 after buying an additional 11,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 14,466 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,755,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,722,605 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $171.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $160.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.63.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.