Whelan Financial Buys 3,692 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Whelan Financial raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 90.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,794 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,692 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.5% of Whelan Financial's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Whelan Financial's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,300,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $180.22 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $169.97 and a 200-day moving average of $175.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis 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 is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered 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. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

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.

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