U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 147,689 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,090 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOG. KeyCorp lowered 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. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.38.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of GOOG traded down $2.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $175.16. 24,067,986 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,257,318. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.29. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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.