Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by SC&H Financial Advisors Inc.

SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 22.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,873 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,601 shares during the period. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $193.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.