Wedmont Private Capital Buys 5,079 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 88,841 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,079 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Sunburst Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the third quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,585,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.6% during the third quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was 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 owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 1.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 154,387 shares of company stock valued at $27,748,931. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG traded down $1.56 on Monday, reaching $191.61. 7,881,423 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,647,354. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $184.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.