Global Wealth Strategies & Associates Has $171,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 178,253.1% during the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Pivotal Research began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $167.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $163.57 and a 200-day moving average of $168.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.