Absher Wealth Management LLC Has $1.17 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Absher Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Absher Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $166.31 and a 200-day moving average of $176.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.