Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 932,245 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 411,921,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 932,245 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 3.33% of Alphabet worth $62,719,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $175,000. Ziegler Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 20,036 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,824,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 5,345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,313,795 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $185,153,000 after purchasing an additional 7,021 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.38.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $113,668.94. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 146,988 shares of company stock worth $26,068,355. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

GOOG traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $179.39. 14,485,899 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,891,877. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $118.68 and a one year high of $193.31. The company has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.