3,499 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Purchased by Blue Sky Capital Consultants Group Inc.

Blue Sky Capital Consultants Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $666,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $169.59 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.61. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. 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 yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.