Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV Buys 1,058 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 25.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.3% of Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Tsai Capital Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Tsai Capital Corp now owns 33,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,343,000 after buying an additional 3,703 shares during the last quarter. Michael A. Dubis Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 66.6% during the fourth quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3,178.3% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 149,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,432,000 after acquiring an additional 144,740 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $156.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.31. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.56.

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.