Vantage Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) by 19% during the second quarter, now holding 401,773 shares valued at approximately $71 million.
• Insider transactions included CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares and Director Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 18,566 shares, contributing to a total of 276,738 shares sold by insiders in the last 90 days.
• Alphabet's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $2.31 beating estimates, with revenue of $96.43 billion up 13.8% year-over-year, and analysts predict an EPS of 8.89 for the current year.

Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 19.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 401,773 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 64,102 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 5.2% of Vantage Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Vantage Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $71,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the second quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 98,349 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,446,000 after purchasing an additional 6,140 shares during the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 14,617 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,593,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 161,386 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $28,628,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.5% during the second quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 78,179 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 29.0% during the second quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 6,160 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $245.46 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $256.70. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $225.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.68.

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.

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