Marion Wealth Management Acquires 1,714 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Marion Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 53.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,951 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,714 shares during the quarter. Marion Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $170.87. 36,230,934 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,239,371. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $160.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

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.