WealthTrak Capital Management LLC Takes $38,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 66.6% during the fourth quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3,178.3% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 149,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,432,000 after acquiring an additional 144,740 shares during the last quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $1,516,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 258,172 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $49,166,000 after purchasing an additional 25,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 9,298 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,771,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $156.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $181.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $148.20 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by 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.