Cullen Investment Group LTD. Buys 1,166 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 99,699 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.8% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,308,000. PSI Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 3,227 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 19,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $299,000. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 8,111 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,545,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $191.05 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $202.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.55. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at $369,672,512.16. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 130,553 shares of company stock worth $23,817,951. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.