IMC Chicago LLC Buys 95,642 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• IMC Chicago LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 40.8%, acquiring an additional 95,642 shares, bringing its total to 330,065 shares worth approximately $58.55 million.
• Analysts are bullish on Alphabet, with several raising their price targets significantly, including a boost from $245.00 to $300.00 by Pivotal Research.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.3%, with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

IMC Chicago LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 40.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,065 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 95,642 shares during the period. IMC Chicago LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $58,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Robbins Farley grew its stake in Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.33.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $247.13 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $256.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $224.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, 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 have sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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