Zullo Investment Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of Zullo Investment Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Zullo Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,334,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,183,979,000 after purchasing an additional 440,526 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Mizuho raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 276,338 shares of company stock worth $59,062,683. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

GOOG opened at $244.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $227.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.61. The company has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $256.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.