Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Woodward Diversified Capital LLC

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,395 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,499,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.2% during the first quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC now owns 70,846 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,068,000 after acquiring an additional 4,111 shares during the period. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 31,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Hudock Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 92.3% during the first quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 7,887 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 3,785 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,030 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $630,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.40.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $183.77 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,343 shares of company stock worth $31,296,140 over the last three months. 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.