Asset Planning Inc Invests $1.05 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,045,000. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Asset Planning Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 1,559 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 80,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,282,000 after acquiring an additional 7,577 shares in the last quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Palacios Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,654,000. Finally, Arcus Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $186.87 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.