Verus Financial Partners Inc. Purchases 228 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,062,000 after purchasing an additional 9,900 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,711,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.1%

GOOGL opened at $236.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $226.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.49. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $256.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. 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 analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $201.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.88.

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.