Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,207 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,596 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total transaction of $3,347,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,310,191 shares in the company, valued at $343,710,216.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total value of $3,347,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,310,191 shares in the company, valued at $343,710,216.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,958 shares of company stock worth $25,805,853 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $1.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $178.37. 12,361,571 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,698,730. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.83 and a 12-month high of $182.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.