EP Wealth Advisors LLC Has $39.63 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 15.0%, owning 253,687 shares valued at approximately $39.63 million.
• Insider sales were notable, with Director Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 18,566 shares and CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares recently, reflecting declines in their respective ownership stakes.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Alphabet, with Oppenheimer setting a new price target of $235.00, up from $220.00.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 15.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 253,687 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 33,081 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised 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 in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $492,281,408.64. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 222,210 shares of company stock valued at $41,742,155 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $1.31 on Thursday, hitting $232.41. The stock had a trading volume of 22,168,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,972,428. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50 day moving average is $194.34 and its 200-day moving average is $176.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $231.96.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.