Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Acorns Advisers LLC

Acorns Advisers LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,886 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,103 shares during the quarter. Acorns Advisers LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $239.94 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $199.04 and its 200-day moving average is $177.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.55, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $240.59.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.