West Branch Capital LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

West Branch Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,222 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the quarter. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $201.90 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $187.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $203.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.13.

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.