Altus Wealth Group LLC Purchases 307 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,482 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 307 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Altus Wealth Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Altus Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 143.7% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,288,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170,229 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

Alphabet stock opened at $159.81 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $165.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.13. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. 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 was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company 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.