Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC Purchases 452 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,556 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 452 shares during the quarter. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8%

Alphabet stock opened at $173.98 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.42. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

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.