Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Smith Salley Wealth Management

Smith Salley Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,219 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,758 shares during the quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $2.87 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $177.23. The company had a trading volume of 21,393,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,641,282. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm's fifty day moving average is $169.31 and its 200-day moving average is $173.67. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.55% 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.