Sovran Advisors LLC Acquires 2,018 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 11.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,562 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,018 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its position 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 valued at $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th 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. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2%

GOOG opened at $178.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50-day moving average is $167.82 and its 200 day moving average is $175.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate 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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