Wedmont Private Capital Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,853 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of Wedmont Private Capital’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 11.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,730,000 after buying an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 47.9% in the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,333 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,094,000 after buying an additional 16,295 shares in the last quarter. Apexium Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 335.9% during the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 53,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after purchasing an additional 41,476 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,201 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $2.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $165.95. The stock had a trading volume of 7,605,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,472,727. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $178.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $163.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.34, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at $354,310,204.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 144,108 shares of company stock worth $25,464,954. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.