Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. Makes New $233,000 Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tempus Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

GOOG stock opened at $172.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.65. The company has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 134,309 shares of company stock valued at $25,057,490. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.