Altus Wealth Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Altus Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,897 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 287.9% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $167.62 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.13 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, 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.