Strategic Planning Group LLC Has $15.80 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Strategic Planning Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 101,119 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,860 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.1% of Strategic Planning Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Strategic Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 287.9% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $167.71 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $161.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.18. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 163,270 shares of company stock worth $26,553,563. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

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.