John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Acquires 10,009 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its investment in Alphabet Inc. by 542.8%, bringing its holdings to $1.85 million after purchasing an additional 10,009 shares in the first quarter.
• Alphabet recently disclosed a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.43%.
• Three analysts have rated Alphabet with a sell rating while seventeen have given a buy rating, indicating a consensus of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $215.19.

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 542.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,853 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,009 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 329,123 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $51,419,000 after acquiring an additional 20,786 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,432 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Brookwood Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,777,000. Kelman Lazarov Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Kelman Lazarov Inc. now owns 3,666 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Morling Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 85.3% in the 1st quarter. Morling Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,899 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,546,000 after buying an additional 4,556 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $1.38 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $192.70. The stock had a trading volume of 13,919,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,212,100. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. 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 company's 50 day moving average price is $176.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is 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.