Essex Financial Services Inc. Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,941 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $174.78 and a 200 day moving average of $165.53. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 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 announced its quarterly 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. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 178,383 shares of company stock worth $30,906,970. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.