Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by VSM Wealth Advisory LLC

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 71.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 994 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 4,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the first quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,338,000 after buying an additional 1,253 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 33.2% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 61,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,602,000 after buying an additional 15,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $410,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 189,896 shares of company stock worth $47,653,637. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of GOOG opened at $284.96 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $259.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $294.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.