Stockman Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered 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. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $177.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $165.19 and a 200-day moving average of $176.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.