Veridan Wealth LLC Purchases New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Veridan Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,162 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Swedbank AB grew its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,069 shares during the last quarter. Allen Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. GFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10,976.6% during the 3rd quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 35,556 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,945,000 after purchasing an additional 35,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 547,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $90,010,000 after purchasing an additional 54,262 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $168.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.88. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.