Investors Research Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 252.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,863 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,050 shares during the quarter. Investors Research Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,088,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,262,000. Finally, Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 14,828 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,824,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%
GOOG traded down $2.48 during trading on Monday, hitting $170.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,665,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,256,457. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $160.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's 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. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 163,159 shares of company stock worth $26,534,426 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.
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About Alphabet
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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.
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