Trace Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $1.36 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Trace Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,120 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,356,000. Alphabet accounts for 1.2% of Trace Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank decreased 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. UBS Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $167.43 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company's fifty day moving average is $160.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.75. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.