Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC Acquires 200 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 58.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 540 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $76,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,852,868,000 after buying an additional 4,348,188 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,269,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,550,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,060 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $4,101,040,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,058,842,000 after purchasing an additional 481,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna lifted 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. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total transaction of $1,826,979.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 205,935 shares of company stock worth $31,178,987 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded down $2.60 on Thursday, reaching $175.40. 9,078,127 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,964,199. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.60. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $179.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.