Millstone Evans Group LLC Buys 150 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Millstone Evans Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.4% of Millstone Evans Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Millstone Evans Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position 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 valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, jvl associates llc boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,571,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $185.94 on Monday. 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 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $174.02 and its 200 day moving average is $174.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.40.

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.