Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Gradient Investments LLC

Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 479,481 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,133 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.5% of Gradient Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $74,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $170.87 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $160.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 163,159 shares of company stock valued at $26,534,426 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.