U S Wealth Group LLC. Purchases 11,873 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

U S Wealth Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 43.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,241 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 6.2% of U S Wealth Group LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. U S Wealth Group LLC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 37.9% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $310.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $318.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $291.74. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total value of $184,038.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,076,615 shares of company stock worth $107,809,111. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. New Street Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.