Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,580 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $184.32 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.83 and a 1 year high of $187.50. The company has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $174.40 and a 200 day moving average of $155.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. 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 previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 143,026 shares of company stock valued at $24,026,243. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.