Zega Financial LLC Invests $270,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Zega Financial LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,472 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities cut 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. Finally, 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. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $160.81 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $167.19 and its 200 day moving average is $166.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.46 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted 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 return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.