Financial Connections Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 108.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Financial Connections Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $91,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,065 shares of company stock valued at $31,025,543 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $164.50 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.46 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $175.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.