ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $85.77 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 483,518 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,798 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 3.2% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $85,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. RDA Financial Network boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the period. Oldfather Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $213,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,904,000 after buying an additional 1,776 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 3,626,927 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $643,381,000 after buying an additional 15,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GC Wealth Management RIA LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 115.7% in the 2nd quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 214,392 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,031,000 after acquiring an additional 115,003 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $251.51 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $256.70. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.91.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.