Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Wahed Invest LLC

Wahed Invest LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,591 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,537 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.9% of Wahed Invest LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Wahed Invest LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $3.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $165.81. The stock had a trading volume of 16,826,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,174,655. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet 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.