Sara Bay Financial Acquires 185 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sara Bay Financial grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,185 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. FMR LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,052,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $197.55 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $185.92 and a 200 day moving average of $174.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 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 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

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.