Anderson Financial Strategies LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. during the first quarter, acquiring 3,300 shares valued at approximately $516,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Strs Ohio and Advisors Capital Management, have recently increased their holdings in Alphabet, with institutional ownership now at 27.26%.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, to be paid on September 15th, reflecting a yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,300 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $369,713,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the first quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 30,893 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,826,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc. now owns 10,365 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,619,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 517,224 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $80,806,000 after purchasing an additional 13,760 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 20.5% during the first quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 245,416 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $38,341,000 after purchasing an additional 41,811 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $239.56 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $242.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $200.24 and a 200 day moving average of $177.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $227.56.

About Alphabet

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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