AE Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,295 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,496 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its position in Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $164.64 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $166.26 and a 200 day moving average of $166.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,385,565. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

Alphabet 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.