Verum Partners LLC Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Verum Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Verum Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39,754.9% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after purchasing an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. Finally, Third Point LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $452,790,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at $354,310,204.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,024 shares in the company, valued at $4,894,812.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,108 shares of company stock worth $17,365,854 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $160.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.