Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,355 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,014,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $0.54 on Wednesday, hitting $172.36. 34,466,802 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,837,599. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $159.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.73. The company has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 $76.49 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%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 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 0.49%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by 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.