24,290 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Acquired by Bernard Wealth Management Corp.

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

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its position in Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $171.53. 18,618,454 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,794,731. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.27, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.73. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. 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 (DPR) is 9.36%.

About Alphabet

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.