Pinney & Scofield Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,009 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,009 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $192,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA grew its holdings 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 valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

GOOG stock opened at $169.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $160.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.61. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.