Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $5.36 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,234 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,775 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.5% of Verus Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after buying an additional 979,083 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after buying an additional 684,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $4,101,040,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

GOOG opened at $157.81 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.46 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $173.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $165.59.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 156,565 shares of company stock worth $27,043,340 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

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.