Poplar Forest Capital LLC Invests $235,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Poplar Forest Capital LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $150.01 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.46 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $171.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction 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 approximately $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 201,867 shares of company stock valued at $34,218,581 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average 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.