Fortem Financial Group LLC Purchases 2,035 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,115 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Fortem Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.82.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $4.31 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $196.10. 19,568,181 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,324,756. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $180.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.01, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.