Channel Wealth LLC Buys 1,897 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Channel Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,622 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,897 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.3% of Channel Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Channel Wealth LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

GOOG stock traded up $5.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $174.92. 22,239,619 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,341,992. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $161.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.09. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 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 previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given 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 $204.88.

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.