Manchester Financial Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Manchester Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,578 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the quarter. Manchester Financial Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IMS Capital Management increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 34,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,501,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,094,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $406,370,000 after purchasing an additional 19,164 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,298,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC now owns 10,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 3,688 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $186.87 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $194.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.