Golden State Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,822,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&G PLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $188.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer upped their target price 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. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.