Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Paladin Wealth LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Paladin Wealth LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,741 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.9% of Paladin Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Paladin Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,299,725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $786,942,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOG opened at $241.38 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $242.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $202.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. UBS Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.