Chung Wu Investment Group LLC Acquires Shares of 580 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 580 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $102,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Petros Family Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC now owns 5,450 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,167,000. Joule Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 14,199 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,502,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 132,750 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,395,000 after purchasing an additional 7,509 shares during the period. Finally, Plimoth Trust Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 65,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,559,000 after purchasing an additional 997 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

GOOGL opened at $245.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $228.31 and a 200-day moving average of $189.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $598,149,304. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,838 shares of company stock valued at $53,070,333 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Melius Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.26.

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.