Wedmont Private Capital Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 95,213 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 6,372 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.8% of Wedmont Private Capital's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Wedmont Private Capital's holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Perennial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC now owns 91,148 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,240,000 after buying an additional 747 shares during the period. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 103.3% in the first quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 195,965 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,616,000 after purchasing an additional 99,578 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Perkins Coie Trust Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 5,143 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 35,274 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,511,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp reduced 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. Finally, Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $2.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $177.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,798,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,382,884. The company has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $161.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Company 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.