Divergent Planning LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Divergent Planning LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,345 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.1% of Divergent Planning LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Divergent Planning LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Towerpoint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC now owns 5,986 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% during the first quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 5,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 1,181 shares during the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 37,389 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,841,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 106,449 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,797,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151 shares during the period. Finally, Sweeney & Michel LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $9,802,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 163,159 shares of company stock worth $26,534,426 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $170.87 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $160.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.27.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

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.