Capital Investment Counsel LLC Has $1.15 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Capital Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 293 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,494,655,000 after buying an additional 769,335 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,827,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,870,944,000 after buying an additional 1,467,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,334,852,000 after buying an additional 1,098,996 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $213.53 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $215.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $191.31 and its 200-day moving average is $175.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $47,225,230 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Lake Street Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

About Alphabet

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.