Courier Capital LLC Acquires 2,931 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Courier Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,190 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,931 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Courier Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Courier Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 246.2% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $174.92 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap 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 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $161.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. 12.99% 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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