Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. Purchases Shares of 3,672 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,672 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $699,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark restated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.4%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $5.20 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $159.58. 31,802,853 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,563,850. The company's 50-day moving average is $160.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.02. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.