Midwest Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Midwest Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter, owning 8,033 shares valued at approximately $1.4 million after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares.
• Analyst ratings for Alphabet show strong support, with four analysts rating it as a Strong Buy and a consensus price target of $240.76, following multiple upgrades to price objectives from various research firms.
• Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.3%, with a payout ratio of 8.95% and insider sales totaling 276,738 shares worth about $59 million in the last three months.

Midwest Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,033 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,732 shares during the period. Midwest Financial Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,593,201,000 after buying an additional 7,774,811 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,034,992,000 after buying an additional 3,537,173 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Roth Capital increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Melius Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $240.76.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $250.43 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $222.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.72. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.00. 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 company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 953 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total value of $229,863.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,171,312.80. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. The trade was a 9.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company 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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