Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC Takes $275,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,762 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 44.6% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,559 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,725,000 after buying an additional 6,033 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,056,116 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $391,567,000 after buying an additional 12,305 shares during the period. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 207,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $39,519,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.40.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $185.94. 20,915,424 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,559,132. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.