Maple Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.9%, owning a total of 404,522 shares, valued at approximately $63 million.
• A number of analysts have revised their price targets for Alphabet, with UBS Group raising their target from $186 to $192 and Oppenheimer increasing theirs from $235 to $270.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with the ex-dividend date on September 8th, representing an annualized yield of 0.3%.

Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 404,522 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,649 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 4.9% of Maple Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Maple Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $63,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.56.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $240.78 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $201.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.39. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $242.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

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.

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