Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,372 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $178.79 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.21. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.