Narwhal Capital Management Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 307,911 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,723 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 4.3% of Narwhal Capital Management's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Narwhal Capital Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $48,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $3.75 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $171.49. 23,586,982 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,698,115. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $166.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.24. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.