Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. Invests $2.38 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 15,224 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,378,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. 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 set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $207.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $2.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $181.31. The company had a trading volume of 23,949,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,450,262. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's 50-day moving average price is $171.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 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.