Verus Capital Partners LLC Purchases 13,651 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 126,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,651 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.2% of Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.76.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet 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 approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $157.46 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $167.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.