Wills Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 43,031 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,654,000. Alphabet accounts for 3.0% of Wills Financial Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Roth Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Westpark Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.
Read Our Latest Research Report on GOOGL
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock worth $49,674,273 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $201.96. 28,319,109 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,762,215. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $182.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.02. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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%.
Alphabet Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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