ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $274,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its stake in Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $4.83 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $197.96. The company had a trading volume of 17,561,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,993,824. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $181.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.97. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 1.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.