Golden State Wealth Management LLC Has $1.59 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.38.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $180.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $169.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.60. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.