Financial Connections Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 48.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,074 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 274,219 shares of company stock worth $49,674,273. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $201.00 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $181.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.81. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Westpark Capital lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

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.