Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 70,846 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,111 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.9% of Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 183,343 shares of company stock valued at $31,296,140. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.40.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4%

GOOG opened at $183.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $172.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.80. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s 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.