Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Sovereign Financial Group Inc.

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 58,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 639 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.1% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. UBS Group cut their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $174.92 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% 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, 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 value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.