R Squared Ltd Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• R Squared Ltd has acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc., purchasing 2,160 shares valued at approximately $337,000 during the first quarter.
• Alphabet reported $2.31 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and reflecting a 13.8% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company plans to issue a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share on September 15th, representing an annual yield of 0.4%.

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,160 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth 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 period. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, jvl associates llc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $5.80 during trading on Monday, hitting $195.75. The company had a trading volume of 23,350,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,139,204. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock's 50-day moving average is $179.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.