Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 875,480 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 875,480 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.25% of Alphabet worth $5,870,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Tempus Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $174.99 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $190.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.91. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.95 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.