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

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,317 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after buying an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $173.38. The stock had a trading volume of 24,101,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,150,700. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $160.72 and a 200-day moving average of $176.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - 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. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost 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 (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.