Aspen Capital Management LLC Invests $538,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Aspen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,446 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,300,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Kidder Stephen W boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $687,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hill Island Financial LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Hill Island Financial LLC now owns 7,776 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,481,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,102 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $185.94 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $174.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.61. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.40.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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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