Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Increased by Smith Salley Wealth Management

Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 254,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,389 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.1% of Smith Salley Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $48,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Beck Bode LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 67,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,385,000 after acquiring an additional 4,456 shares in the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 17,176 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,150,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.7% during the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 687,740 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $126,145,000 after buying an additional 11,490 shares in the last quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the second quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 26,247 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,814,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 94.8% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 159,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,223,000 after acquiring an additional 77,530 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $197.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $185.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.