HCR Wealth Advisors Buys 449 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

HCR Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,664 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.5% of HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after buying an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Alphabet by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,375,512,000 after buying an additional 1,632,691 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after buying an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $194.48 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.