WJ Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

WJ Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 742 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.6% of WJ Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. WJ Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,012,608.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,026 shares of company stock valued at $24,026,243 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $183.42 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $174.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.83 and a 12-month high of $187.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.86.

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.