Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Cozad Asset Management Inc.

Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 17,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,990 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after buying an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after buying an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,101,040,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $152.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.62. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 200,532 shares of company stock valued at $34,055,874 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.