Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 207,805 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,243 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $10,939,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,728,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,438,000. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 64,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,334,000 after buying an additional 3,938 shares during the period. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $273,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Price Performance

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 company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.60. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.