Diversified Enterprises LLC Acquires 78 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Diversified Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company 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 given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.62 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.13 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.