Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV Acquires New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB increased its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Leo Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 22,217 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,714,000 after acquiring an additional 2,782 shares during the period. Narwhal Capital Management increased its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 301,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,453,000 after acquiring an additional 10,240 shares during the period. Mainsail Financial Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC now owns 9,813 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Finally, Community Trust & Investment Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 396,587 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $66,305,000 after acquiring an additional 2,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $186.85 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 116,609 shares of company stock valued at $21,809,990. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.