Newport Capital Group LLC Has $369,000 Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Newport Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Newport Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $175.88 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $164.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

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.