Griffith & Werner Inc. Makes New $4.04 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Griffith & Werner Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 21,202 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,038,000. Alphabet accounts for 2.7% of Griffith & Werner Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $174.16. 11,495,038 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,102,129. The company's 50-day moving average is $160.72 and its 200 day moving average is $176.47. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.