BLB&B Advisors LLC Has $2.09 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,022 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&G PLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $927,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business’s 50-day moving average is $193.42 and its 200-day moving average is $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.