World Equity Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

World Equity Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,769 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Delta Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 28,357 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,400,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the period. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. now owns 122,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,324,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Partners purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $240,000. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 8,203 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,562,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Finally, MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 17,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,307,000 after buying an additional 3,192 shares during the period. 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 issued reports on GOOG. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $174.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.