N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 33.1%, acquiring an additional 1,364 shares, bringing its total holdings to 5,479 shares worth approximately $847,000.
• Insiders sold a combined total of 273,219 shares valued at $49.47 million in the last 90 days, reflecting a notable decrease in their ownership stakes.
• Alphabet reported $2.31 earnings per share for its last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.15, with revenue of $96.43 billion surpassing expectations as well.

N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 33.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,479 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,364 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Loop Capital reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

GOOGL stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $196.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 26,014,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,916,484. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.12.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.