Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Buys Shares of 2,317 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 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 added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 140.6% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the company'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 value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $0.70 during trading on Thursday, hitting $172.68. 12,347,197 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,146,811. 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 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $160.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.