3,764 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Bought by Riverbend Wealth Management LLC

Riverbend Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 3,764 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $717,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after buying an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 5,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $863,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 29,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,967,000 after buying an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,884,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock valued at $18,192,354. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $167.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $189.36 and its 200 day moving average is $178.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.07 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company 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.