Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $167.87 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $160.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.74.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.