Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.9% of Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

GOOG stock opened at $186.61 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $187.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 123,788 shares of company stock worth $21,143,403 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.86.

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.