Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,913 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.7% of Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 5,834 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 110,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,974,000 after purchasing an additional 3,055 shares during the period. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 15,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,909,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

Alphabet stock opened at $160.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $160.39 and a 200 day moving average of $176.86. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.