EPIQ Capital Group LLC Acquires 4,315 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

EPIQ Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 151.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.5% of EPIQ Capital Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. EPIQ Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Alphabet by 62.5% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 202,667 shares of company stock worth $34,341,581 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $160.28 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $167.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.64. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued 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 was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.