Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,202,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.9% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $228,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 85,141 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,214,000 after buying an additional 22,030 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 16,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,053,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 54,801 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,436,000 after buying an additional 1,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McDonough Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. McDonough Capital Management Inc now owns 79,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,169,000 after buying an additional 2,340 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank increased 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, January 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $175.75 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.80 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $189.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $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 P/E ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.