First Financial Group Corp Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

First Financial Group Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,261 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 145 shares during the quarter. First Financial Group Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,062,000 after acquiring an additional 9,900 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 4.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,508,914 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $387,979,000 after purchasing an additional 106,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 12.2% in the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 64,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,918,000 after purchasing an additional 6,964 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $251.46 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $230.51 and a 200 day moving average of $190.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid 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 currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.57.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 210,872 shares of company stock worth $46,980,865. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.