Marino Stram & Associates LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 530 shares during the quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3,586.8% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 361,788 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $66,359,000 after acquiring an additional 351,975 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.0% during the second quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Marathon Capital Management lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.1% during the second quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 11,320 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 18,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,477,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 624,862 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $114,612,000 after buying an additional 8,807 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

GOOG opened at $201.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $187.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.23. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $203.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.13.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.