Paragon Financial Partners Inc. Has $267,000 Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 68.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,402 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,978 shares during the period. Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 11,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,255,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 31,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,067,000 after purchasing an additional 14,350 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 13,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $965,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $201.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $203.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $187.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.