Variant Private Wealth LLC Takes $826,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Variant Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 4,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $826,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.8% of Variant Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its position in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1 %

Alphabet stock opened at $177.37 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $193.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.