Prosperity Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Prosperity Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,884 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 287.9% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.62, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.21 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.