Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Buys 1,730 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,870,181,000 after purchasing an additional 875,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $175.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.94. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $134.80 and a one 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.