State of Wyoming Has $6.09 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

State of Wyoming increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 86.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,951 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,800 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.8% of State of Wyoming's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. State of Wyoming's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% in 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 lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" 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 assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change 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 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.

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