Thomas Story & Son LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Thomas Story & Son LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $16,730,000 after acquiring an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 335.9% during the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 53,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,586,000 after acquiring an additional 41,476 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% during the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after acquiring an additional 8,201 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the first quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 62,917 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,580,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,307,206.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 200,532 shares of company stock valued at $34,055,874. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $152.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $172.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company 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 report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

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.