Signature Wealth Management Group Buys 440 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Signature Wealth Management Group grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Alphabet by 10.2% in the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.7% in the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.43. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

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.