WealthShield Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• WealthShield Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 69.9%, acquiring a total of 9,531 shares valued at approximately $1.49 million.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.31, exceeding expectations, while its revenue reached $96.43 billion, a 13.8% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, providing a modest annual yield of 0.4%, with a low payout ratio of 8.95%.

WealthShield Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 69.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,531 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,920 shares during the period. WealthShield Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised 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, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $197.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,292,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,208,792. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.68. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.