Nicholas Investment Partners LP Buys 479 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth 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 period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in 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 during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $160.89 on Wednesday. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $160.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.86. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOG. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.