Headland Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Headland Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,459 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000. Alphabet makes up about 0.2% of Headland Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $162.06 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.