Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,379 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased 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 worth $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $281,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after buying an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $4.39 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $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 one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $160.54 and its 200-day moving average is $176.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.