Flaharty Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Flaharty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. jvl associates llc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Members Trust Co lifted its stake in Alphabet by 84.7% in the first quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 4,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 2,292 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $239.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.55, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.55. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $240.59.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.56.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.