Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys 729 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,657 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction 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 $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $177.23 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $165.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.44. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. 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, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average 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.