Occidental Asset Management LLC Buys 17,381 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 89.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,856 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,381 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Occidental Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its position in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $197.55 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $202.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.93. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.