Integrity Investment Advisors LLC Invests $449,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Integrity Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,876 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after purchasing an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $719,000. Fortis Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 59,366 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,306,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $2,475,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.40.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $5.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $191.15. 24,552,642 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,599,443. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $174.02 and a 200 day moving average of $174.50. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.