Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC

Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.3% in the third 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 last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $201.90 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $203.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $187.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased 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. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.13.

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.