Spartan Planning & Wealth Management Acquires 4,449 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Spartan Planning & Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,449 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.9% of Spartan Planning & Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $448,684,000 after purchasing an additional 56,295 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after buying an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $313.51 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $295.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $328.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% 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 Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total value of $32,401.32. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,750,916.64. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $63,183,331 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. China Renaissance upped their target price on Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on Alphabet from $343.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $315.90.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.