Valmark Advisers Inc. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ACT Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Kooman & Associates increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 4,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brueske Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $237.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $256.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 17,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.