Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Marotta Asset Management

Marotta Asset Management raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,821 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Marotta Asset Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meritas Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% in the third quarter. Meritas Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Unique Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 3,375 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 978,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $163,578,000 after buying an additional 47,171 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 2,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co of the South lifted its position in Alphabet by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 8,637 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $163.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Alphabet Company 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.