Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,537 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,438 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South boosted its position in Alphabet by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 10,554 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 1,402 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. SK Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $230,000. Finally, IMS Capital Management raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 33,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,664,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 154,519 shares of company stock valued at $27,734,316 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $190.63 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $180.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.