3,680 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Bought by Ascent Capital Management LLC

Ascent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $701,000. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of Ascent Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,503,000. Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Tidemark LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Tidemark LLC now owns 2,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. one8zero8 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $5,744,000. Finally, Choate Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 223,813 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,630,000 after purchasing an additional 10,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $167.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.13 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.