Flagship Private Wealth LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Flagship Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 224.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,870 shares during the period. Flagship Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were 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 owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.0%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $174.92 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $161.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Alphabet Company 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.