Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stake Raised by Alaethes Wealth LLC

Alaethes Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 33,993 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of Alaethes Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Alaethes Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. SCS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 150.4% during the 1st quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC now owns 64,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,129,000 after acquiring an additional 38,946 shares in the last quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 36,758 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,743,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 399,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $62,398,000 after purchasing an additional 113,584 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 15,891 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 11,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,776,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $234.16 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.12. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $238.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.