Providence Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 1,264 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 59,104 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.9% of Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $361,000. Coleford Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $400,000. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $89,109,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4%

GOOG opened at $203.82 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $184.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.82.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.19.

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.