LifeGoal Wealth Advisors Buys New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

LifeGoal Wealth Advisors bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,657 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 10.1% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. WD Rutherford LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. WD Rutherford LLC now owns 31,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,260,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 28.6% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,318 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% during the third quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 12,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,118,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $3,131,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $137.03 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.