Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Keystone Financial Group

Keystone Financial Group raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,856 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,171 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of Keystone Financial Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Keystone Financial Group’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents 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 the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.71.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $159.40 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $170.50 and a 200-day moving average of $177.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company 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.