Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,118 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $37,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $44,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at $355,743,153.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 216,092 shares of company stock valued at $35,644,136 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $164.52 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $162.81 and a 200-day moving average of $169.37. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

About Alphabet

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.