Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Waycross Partners LLC

Waycross Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 252,904 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,277 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 4.4% of Waycross Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Waycross Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 72,892 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,034,000 after purchasing an additional 6,821 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 8,686 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares in the last quarter. Elgethun Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 8,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $201.96 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 274,219 shares of company stock worth $49,674,273. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.