Sentinus LLC Acquires 1,677 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sentinus LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 23.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,799 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,677 shares during the period. Sentinus LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $167.87. The stock had a trading volume of 20,867,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,739,926. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, 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. The firm's 50 day moving average is $160.19 and its 200 day moving average is $176.77. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.