HB Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 63.9% during Q1, owning 346,371 shares valued at approximately $54.1 million.
• Alphabet's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $2.31, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.12, with revenues of $96.43 billion, up 13.8% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.43%, scheduled for payment on September 15th.

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 63.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 346,371 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 134,999 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $54,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% 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 valued at $43,523,710. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $194.08 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $176.86 and a 200 day moving average of $174.67. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS 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 company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.

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