ICONIQ Capital LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

ICONIQ Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,356 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently 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 purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $206.72 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $209.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

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.