Granite FO LLC Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Granite FO LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,400 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $990,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.6% of Granite FO LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 203,367 shares of company stock worth $34,079,756. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $165.29. 13,604,261 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,118,322. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $164.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.97. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Wolfe Research raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $179.29.

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.