McHugh Group LLC Buys New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

McHugh Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 15,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,907,000. Alphabet comprises 2.2% of McHugh Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,463,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.2 %

GOOG stock opened at $187.14 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $193.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.13. The company has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.