Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Increased by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 511,515 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 29,295 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $0.93 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $184.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,615,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,529,363. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01. 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 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $172.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.80.

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, beating 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.40.

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.