Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by HBK Sorce Advisory LLC

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 54,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,262,000. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 246.2% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,052 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in Alphabet by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $171.49 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $166.90 and a 200-day moving average of $176.24. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.