Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Holdings Increased by Summit Financial LLC

Key Points

• Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 65.6% during the 1st quarter, resulting in ownership of 81,307 shares valued at approximately $12.7 million.
• Analysts have set a new average target price of $215.19 for Alphabet, with several upgrading their ratings and price targets following strong quarterly results.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which reflects an annualized yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Summit Financial LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 65.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,307 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 32,206 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $6.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $206.72. 25,689,130 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,142,382. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02. 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 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $209.23. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $187.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.73.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.