Everstar Asset Management LLC Acquires 10,029 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Everstar Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. by 432.1% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 10,029 shares, bringing its total holdings to 12,350 shares valued at approximately $1.93 million.
• Alphabet's stock has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with Citizens Jmp upgrading it to a strong-buy rating and Oppenheimer raising its price target from $235 to $270.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which represents an annualized payout of $0.84, yielding about 0.4%.

Everstar Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 432.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,350 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,029 shares during the period. Everstar Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Challenger Wealth Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $201,000. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 38.7% in the 1st quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 7,440 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 262.9% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 13,126 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 9,509 shares during the last quarter. Knightsbridge Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Knightsbridge Asset Management LLC now owns 8,877 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,387,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1,191.1% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,543,988 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $238,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,405 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $239.56. The company had a trading volume of 19,960,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,010,580. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $242.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $199.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.55.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $227.56.

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.