Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Ellenbecker Investment Group

Ellenbecker Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,374 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $683,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on 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 report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $180.01 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.20. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value 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 represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.