GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC Purchases 124 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,372 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $178.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $163.42 and a 200 day moving average of $176.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.