Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 80,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,414,179,000 after buying an additional 684,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,101,040,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total transaction of $3,973,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,235,511 shares in the company, valued at $394,746,532.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 121,608 shares of company stock worth $21,567,504. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $5.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $160.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,338,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,478,992. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $178.20 and a 200-day moving average of $163.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.