Buck Wealth Strategies LLC Buys 5,579 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Buck Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,486 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,579 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.9% of Buck Wealth Strategies LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $830,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $154,716,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 216,306 shares of company stock worth $35,782,927. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of GOOGL traded up $2.86 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $173.54. The company had a trading volume of 31,662,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,836,780. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $165.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.58. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.