Advisory Alpha LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 57.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,213 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 145,488 shares of company stock worth $25,217,405. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $186.92. 2,872,421 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,618,479. The company has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $178.83 and its 200 day moving average is $158.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.68 and a 12-month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.38.

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.