Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Buys 157,481 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,653,344 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 157,481 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.5% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $414,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $176.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $163.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.27. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

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.