Grassi Investment Management Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Grassi Investment Management lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,024 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,529 shares during the quarter. Grassi Investment Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho reduced 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. Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $5.47 on Friday, hitting $173.68. The stock had a trading volume of 35,701,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,134,353. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $159.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 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 given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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.