XML Financial LLC Purchases 1,427 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

XML Financial LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,427 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $33,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $201.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $187.39 and its 200 day moving average is $175.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $203.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99.

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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.13.

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.