Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Buys 97 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.7% of Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $192.31. 4,989,618 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,733,447. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.83 and a 12 month high of $192.86. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. 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 report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.38.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.