Buffington Mohr McNeal Has $5.82 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Buffington Mohr McNeal boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 57.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,938 shares during the period. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 80,246,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,309,370,000 after acquiring an additional 862,550 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $4,101,040,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,058,842,000 after purchasing an additional 481,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,024,679,000 after purchasing an additional 813,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $186.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $174.93 and its 200-day moving average is $156.20. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $115.83 and a one year high of $187.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 123,788 shares of company stock valued at $21,143,403 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.86.

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.