Richmond Investment Services LLC Makes New $595,000 Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Richmond Investment Services LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,123 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $4.39 on Tuesday, hitting $173.98. The stock had a trading volume of 24,230,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,023,143. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The business's fifty day moving average price is $160.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.49.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.