Apex Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 3,651 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Apex Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,651 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $691,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowroot Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowroot Family Office LLC now owns 3,657 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $692,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. Asset Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 14,778 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,797,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $1,268,000. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 1,385,052 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $262,190,000 after purchasing an additional 96,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 3,075,778 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $582,245,000 after purchasing an additional 122,339 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm'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 value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.03 on Friday. 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 $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.46.

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.

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