L.K. Benson & Company P.C. Invests $225,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

L.K. Benson & Company P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,180 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Kazazian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $15,691,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 266,327 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,719,000 after buying an additional 108,705 shares during the period. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 32,547 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,198,000 after buying an additional 6,937 shares during the last quarter. Bestgate Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Stokes Family Office LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 94,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,065,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $162.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $186.10 and its 200-day moving average is $178.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.01 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.