WFA Asset Management Corp Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 51.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,697 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $174.92 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $161.88 and its 200 day moving average is $176.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

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.