Canopy Partners LLC Acquires 6,228 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Canopy Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 119.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,228 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Canopy Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Canopy Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer upped 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. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.65.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $147.74 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $177.04 and its 200 day moving average is $178.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $143.70 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.