Aries Wealth Management Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Aries Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,404 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,626 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of Aries Wealth Management's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Aries Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL traded up $2.10 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $176.77. The stock had a trading volume of 27,324,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,428,139. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Alphabet

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.