Arcus Capital Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Arcus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 44.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Arcus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after purchasing an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 96,001 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,050,000 after buying an additional 1,667 shares in the last quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% during the third quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,147 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. E&G Advisors LP increased its position in Alphabet by 4.7% during the third quarter. E&G Advisors LP now owns 7,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. increased its position in Alphabet by 17.2% during the third quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 3,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $186.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $194.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.71. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.