Vertex Planning Partners LLC Purchases 486 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,048 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the period. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.38 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

About Alphabet

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.