OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC acquired 1,559 shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), valued at approximately $244,000, in Q1.
• Alphabet's quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $2.31, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.12, with revenue reaching $96.43 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, representing an annual yield of 0.4%.

OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,559 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, jvl associates llc lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $1.09 on Friday, reaching $204.91. The stock had a trading volume of 21,099,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,037,520. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business's 50 day moving average is $184.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.82.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.