Holcombe Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Holcombe Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000. Alphabet accounts for about 0.2% of Holcombe Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,663 shares of company stock valued at $20,286,447 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $153.36 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.88.

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.