Flaharty Asset Management LLC Buys 498 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Flaharty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 18.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,158 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 498 shares during the quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Investment Counsel Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 106,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,013,000 after purchasing an additional 7,045 shares during the period. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $489,000. Marco Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 12,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 4,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,824 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $165.67.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $167.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $149.64 and its 200-day moving average is $142.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.50 and a 1 year high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.