UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,942 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 12,240 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 22,040 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,685,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Blue Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 150.0% in the third quarter. Blue Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after buying an additional 4,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elios Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $172.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.44.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Alphabet 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.