Occidental Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,922 shares during the quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in Alphabet by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after acquiring an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after acquiring an additional 4,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.86.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $3.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $183.42. 23,032,362 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,822,788. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $174.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.53. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $187.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $362,012,608.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.