Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 26.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,009 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,226 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 2,802 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the second quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 9,956 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,766,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Objectivity Squared LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 16,342 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,605,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $241.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $202.67 and a 200 day moving average of $178.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $242.57.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.56.

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.