Apollon Wealth Management LLC Acquires 24,367 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 133,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,367 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.84 on Monday, hitting $169.83. 15,132,966 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,754,559. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $105.79 and a 52 week high of $176.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.95. The company has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $165.67.

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.