Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. Has $474,000 Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,116 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 80,246,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,309,370,000 after purchasing an additional 862,550 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $4,101,040,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,058,842,000 after purchasing an additional 481,376 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,024,679,000 after purchasing an additional 813,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,638,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,200,000 after purchasing an additional 97,603 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.86.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $187.39 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.83 and a 12-month high of $187.62. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted 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 business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.