Vantage Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 337,671 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,803 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 4.4% of Vantage Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Vantage Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $52,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,088,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 246.2% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $166.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 36,202,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,645,192. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $166.31 and a 200-day moving average of $176.41.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,555,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $451,452,029.28. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.