Members Wealth LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Members Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,584 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 308 shares during the quarter. Members Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sterling Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the first quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 27,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,270,000 after buying an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,372 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.9% in the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 49,504 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,734,000 after buying an additional 8,222 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 14,862 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,322,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnolia Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.6% in the first quarter. Magnolia Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,349 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $178.79 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 moving average price of $163.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% 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 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Corporate 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.