City National Bank of Florida MSD Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

City National Bank of Florida MSD bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,998 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $761,000. Alphabet accounts for 0.7% of City National Bank of Florida MSD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $170.06 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.