Gateway Advisory LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gateway Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,729 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.3% of Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after buying an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA boosted its position in Alphabet by 79.4% during the 4th quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 9,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after buying an additional 4,210 shares during the period. Finally, Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $577,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upped 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. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $163.07 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $165.76 and its 200 day moving average is $167.46. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256. 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.