Kaizen Financial Strategies Has $3.69 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Kaizen Financial Strategies lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,593 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,663 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.1% of Kaizen Financial Strategies' portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Kaizen Financial Strategies' holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 163,270 shares of company stock valued at $26,553,563. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.97 on Wednesday, hitting $168.68. 10,198,643 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,237,957. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $161.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.