Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 9,112 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,735,000. Alphabet comprises 1.6% of Northstar Financial Companies Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,341,000 after buying an additional 2,390 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,088,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,609 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,259,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, AM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 84,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $16,054,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Price Performance
Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.09 on Friday, hitting $170.87. 36,230,934 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,270,754. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $160.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year 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.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
Insider Activity
In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark restated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.
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Alphabet Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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