Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.6% of Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during 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 lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 979,083 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 684,968 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $4,101,040,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $168.96. 12,595,544 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,379,633. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $121.46 and a one year high of $193.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $177.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $354,310,204.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,565 shares of company stock worth $27,253,193. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

Alphabet 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.