Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Acquires Shares of 24,290 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 24,290 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,598,000. Alphabet comprises about 2.1% of Bernard Wealth Management Corp.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $0.54 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $172.36. The stock had a trading volume of 34,427,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,799,323. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $158.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.