Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 469.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,646 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,951 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 178,794 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $27,649,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 129.8% in the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 1,677,823 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $259,459,000 after purchasing an additional 947,555 shares during the period. Lokken Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.3% in the first quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 3,595 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the period. Apollon Financial LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the first quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 50,947 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,879,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 32.2% in the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 272,798 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $42,185,000 after acquiring an additional 66,523 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Mizuho cut 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-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.32.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

GOOGL stock traded up $1.01 on Friday, reaching $193.18. 39,738,342 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.