Wallace Hart LLC Purchases Shares of 1,003 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wallace Hart LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,003 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $191,000. Alphabet accounts for 0.2% of Wallace Hart LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $1,208,000. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 11,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 35,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,901,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $138.21 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $188.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.