Martin Capital Advisors LLP Acquires 150 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Martin Capital Advisors LLP lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Martin Capital Advisors LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 42.8% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,511 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,544,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,177,000 after buying an additional 92,556 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after buying an additional 51,226 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $796,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 37,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,311,000 after buying an additional 859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $193.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.40. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.