Circle Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Circle Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,983 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,314 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.3% of Circle Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Circle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st 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 raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st 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 raised 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 valued at $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 813,428 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $164.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.46 and a 1-year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.