Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 26,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,079,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.7% of Bernard Wealth Management Corp.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Mizuho cut their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.49.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $159.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $167.87 and its 200-day moving average is $176.28. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,497 shares of company stock worth $20,837,150 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently 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.