Apella Capital LLC Has $827,000 Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Apella Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 80.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,340 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,929 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total transaction of $252,120.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,039.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.08, for a total value of $252,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,039.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.22, for a total transaction of $3,897,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,258,011 shares in the company, valued at $391,132,665.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 122,308 shares of company stock valued at $21,933,775 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $160.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,289,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,687,906. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $179.29 and a 200-day moving average of $163.21. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31.

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 return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

About Alphabet

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.