Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,903 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,771 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.6% of Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $168.70 and a 200 day moving average of $173.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.

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