ERn Financial LLC Buys 349 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

ERn Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 17,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,193,000 after buying an additional 2,031 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 19,058 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,496,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.1% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 59,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,994,000 after acquiring an additional 8,760 shares in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 204.0% during the second quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 30,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,576,000 after purchasing an additional 20,400 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $194.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $185.32 and a 200-day moving average of $174.70. The company has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.