Wedbush Securities Inc. Acquires 3,922 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 116,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,922 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.8% of Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Annandale Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Annandale Capital LLC now owns 19,181 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,653,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 291.5% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 8,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 6,229 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $3,538,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $293,454,000. Finally, ROI Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $212,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.65.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $147.74 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.54 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.30. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. 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 quarterly 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.