Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,170 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,546 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 116,609 shares of company stock worth $21,809,990. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $5.06 on Friday, reaching $181.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,447,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,667,480. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock's 50-day moving average is $194.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.