Heritage Wealth Advisors Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Heritage Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 347,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,321 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.3% of Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $66,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $172.79 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $148.20 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $183.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.44. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.