Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Purchases 290 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Founders Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 11,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd now owns 54,008 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,399,000 after purchasing an additional 10,220 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 301,072 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,336,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,631 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GOOG traded down $1.68 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $191.49. The stock had a trading volume of 7,463,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,600,424. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $184.12 and a 200 day moving average of $174.45. The company has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 154,387 shares of company stock worth $27,748,931. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.