Costello Asset Management INC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 116.7% during Q1, owning 67,122 shares valued at approximately $10.38 million.
• Alphabet's stock recently traded at $203.34 with a market cap of $2.46 trillion and a P/E ratio of 21.65, reflecting ongoing strong performance.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%, scheduled for payment on September 15th.

Costello Asset Management INC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 116.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,122 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 36,151 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 4.2% of Costello Asset Management INC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Costello Asset Management INC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aquire Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Aquire Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,181 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 6,001 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $928,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 159,869 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,722,000 after acquiring an additional 3,127 shares during the period. Advyzon Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 63.4% in the 1st quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC now owns 5,861 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares during the period. Finally, Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 120,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,677,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $3.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $206.08. The stock had a trading volume of 8,357,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,495,184. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.30. The company has a market cap of $2.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by 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.