Ibex Wealth Advisors Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ibex Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,623 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,973 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Ibex Wealth Advisors' holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Ibex Wealth Advisors' holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

GOOGL traded down $1.65 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $175.70. 20,879,613 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,364,105. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $162.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Company 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.