Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Purchased by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. has increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 36.7%, owning 26,738 shares, valued at approximately $4.18 million.
• Wall Street analysts show a consensus rating of Moderate Buy for Alphabet, with an average target price of $227.56, reflecting confidence in the company's performance.
• Alphabet recently reported earnings of $2.31 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates and reflecting a 13.8% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 36.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,738 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,179 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $1.01 on Monday, reaching $234.16. The company had a trading volume of 23,088,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,042,439. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $238.40. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $196.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $227.56.

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.