BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 726 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strong Tower Advisory Services boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 3,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 18,946 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,608,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank of Raymore grew its holdings in Alphabet by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank of Raymore now owns 4,809 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 2,479 shares during the last quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,387 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,739,000 after purchasing an additional 12,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Divergent Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’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 owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $199.63 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.83. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $203.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

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.