Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Has $1.35 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 44.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,104 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,175 shares during the period. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 287.9% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $167.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $187.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.13 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.