Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Has $2.75 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,619 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first 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 period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. 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 assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sold a total of 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $167.74 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $166.58 and its 200-day moving average is $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.