Romano Brothers AND Company Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Romano Brothers AND Company boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.0% of Romano Brothers AND Company’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $183.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $174.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.68. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.83 and a twelve month high of $187.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.