Benjamin Edwards Inc. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 124,933 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,741 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.24 on Monday, reaching $166.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,291,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,159,189. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $162.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.25.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.