Passive Capital Management LLC. Makes New $230,000 Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Passive Capital Management LLC has invested approximately $230,000 in Alphabet Inc., acquiring 1,472 shares during the 1st quarter.
• Alphabet reported better-than-expected earnings of $2.31 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates, with revenue of $96.43 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, to be paid on September 15th, with a yield of 0.43%.

Passive Capital Management LLC. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,472 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after buying an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.9%

Alphabet stock traded down $3.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $193.70. The stock had a trading volume of 16,003,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,267,123. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $178.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 249,298 shares of company stock valued at $43,505,967. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

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.