Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC Invests $15.84 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 101,406 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,843,000. Alphabet accounts for about 11.3% of Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%

Alphabet stock opened at $207.95 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $188.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.99. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $211.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by 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.