Continuum Advisory LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares during the quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,341,000 after buying an additional 2,390 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,088,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 246.2% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 4,052 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $166.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $166.40 and a 200-day moving average of $176.33. 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 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade 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 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.