Riverbend Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Riverbend Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,481,000. Alphabet accounts for 2.2% of Riverbend Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $182.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.51. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.22 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.