Ieq Capital LLC Acquires 22,206 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 622,408 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,206 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.5% of Ieq Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $114,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the period. Finally, Vima LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $304,691,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $163.24 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $166.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 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 firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.