Courier Capital LLC Purchases 966 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Courier Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 91,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.2% of Courier Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sunburst Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.1% in the third quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 8,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Phillips Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the third quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 153,053 shares of company stock valued at $27,559,701. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $192.29 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $184.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.