Puff Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Puff Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $607,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $922,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 18.8% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 105,949 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,572,000 after acquiring an additional 16,758 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 84,752 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 9,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,552,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,056,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $168.27 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $207.05. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,188 shares of company stock valued at $25,036,883 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet 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.