ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc. Takes $274,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&G PLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,240,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 172.9% in the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after acquiring an additional 57,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $4.83 during trading on Monday, hitting $197.96. The stock had a trading volume of 17,561,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,993,824. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

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.