Puff Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Puff Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,973 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $5.06 on Friday, reaching $181.58. The company had a trading volume of 19,447,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,667,480. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $194.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.08. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,609 shares of company stock worth $21,809,990 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.13.

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.