Wayfinding Financial LLC Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $470,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 210,657 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 591,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $98,809,000 after buying an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 821,450 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $137,338,000 after buying an additional 172,077 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7 %

GOOG opened at $165.05 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $148.01 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $184.91 and a 200-day moving average of $177.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Benchmark restated a “negative” 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 report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.