Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Lifted by Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,328 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 288 shares during the quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $48,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $158.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company 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%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered 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 objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 201,867 shares of company stock valued at $34,218,581. 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.