Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Buys 2,055 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 81,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,055 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $178.79 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.