Sax Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 775 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,894 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Somerset Trust Co grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 6,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 177,004 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,507,000 after acquiring an additional 57,271 shares during the last quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 32,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,089,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Brand Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Brand Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 1,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walker Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 3,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.25. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Alphabet 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.