Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,541 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,852 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of Kovack Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 11.9% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after acquiring an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,123,000 after acquiring an additional 4,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective 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. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $187.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $175.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $156.79. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $187.62. 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, 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 value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.