Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,883 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,980 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,606,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $2.38 on Tuesday, hitting $180.01. 32,875,878 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,432,669. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.