Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Confluence Wealth Services Inc.

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 45.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,560 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,621 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% during 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 in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.38.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2%

GOOG stock traded up $3.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $178.27. The company had a trading volume of 73,956,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,984,165. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $167.82 and a 200 day moving average of $176.02. The company has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.