Vest Financial LLC Purchases 14,291 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,291 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley boosted its position in Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1%

GOOG stock opened at $251.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $192.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $257.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 210,872 shares of company stock worth $46,980,865 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.