Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

GOOG opened at $176.91 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 183,143 shares of company stock valued at $30,529,028. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.38.

Alphabet Company 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.