Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires 9,676 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 110,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,676 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.8% of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB lifted 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 purchasing an additional 51,226 shares during the period. M&G PLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $2,240,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.9% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 4,958 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the third quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 50,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,499,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the period. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the third quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,051,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $175.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $189.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.80 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.