Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,317 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

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

Alphabet Trading Up 2.6%

Alphabet stock traded up $4.39 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $173.98. The stock had a trading volume of 24,291,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,134,876. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $160.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company'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 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company 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.