Partners in Financial Planning Invests $491,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Partners in Financial Planning purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,579 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 532,002 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $101,314,000 after purchasing an additional 85,870 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,385,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,216,127,000 after buying an additional 400,007 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 161,558 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,767,000 after buying an additional 4,443 shares during the period. Portland Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC now owns 4,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $798,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in Alphabet by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,607,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $496,584,000 after acquiring an additional 302,288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $156.06 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 87,992 shares of company stock valued at $16,097,111. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.