Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by IFP Advisors Inc

IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 29.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,886 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 17,519 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, jvl associates llc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.40.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

GOOG stock opened at $185.94 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $174.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.

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