Cetera Investment Advisers Buys 17,613 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 1.8%, owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $158 million.
• Alphabet recently reported earnings per share of $2.31, exceeding analyst expectations, alongside a 13.8% year-over-year increase in revenue to $96.43 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.43% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,015,404 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 17,613 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Alphabet were worth $158,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $1.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $192.70. 13,919,980 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,212,100. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $176.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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.