bLong Financial LLC Acquires New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

bLong Financial LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,080 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $777,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of bLong Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the third 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 116,609 shares of company stock worth $21,809,990. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.3 %

GOOG traded down $4.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $182.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,208,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,409,787. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock's 50-day moving average is $194.22 and its 200-day moving average is $177.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.