Opinicus Capital Inc. Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Opinicus Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 86 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.4% of Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $193.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.