Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC Purchases 7,578 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 105.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,754 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,578 shares during the quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $927,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business'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 transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the business'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 approximately $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $5.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $159.58. 31,830,106 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,564,139. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $160.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company 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%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.