Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 32.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,823 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,333 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $149,000. Fonville Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $469,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

Alphabet stock opened at $187.88 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $193.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.