Defined Financial Planning LLC Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Defined Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,901 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $927,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,184,399 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,384,039,000 after purchasing an additional 704,875 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $210.88.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.14 on Friday, reaching $153.36. 19,461,666 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,413,783. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $167.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.58. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.