Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 155.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,358 shares during the quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $166.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $148.20 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $184.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.07. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.