Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Gouws Capital LLC

Gouws Capital LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 7.5% of Gouws Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Gouws Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3,050.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares during the period. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 135.3% in the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 11,066 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after purchasing an additional 6,364 shares during the period. a16z Perennial Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $934,000. Snider Financial Group boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 41,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,935,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,199,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $174.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $190.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.89. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.