Greystone Financial Group LLC Has $645,000 Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Greystone Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Greystone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $181.19 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $193.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.