Okabena Investment Services Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Okabena Investment Services Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 26.0%, now owning 15,706 shares valued at approximately $2,429,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly EPS of $2.31, exceeding estimates, and achieved revenue of $96.43 billion against an expected $93.60 billion.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with the consensus target now at $211.53, indicating strong investor confidence in the company's performance.

Okabena Investment Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 26.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,706 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,238 shares during the quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 307.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,593,201,000 after buying an additional 7,774,811 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $1,375,509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $1.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $212.91. 39,702,089 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,138,272. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $214.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $190.44 and a 200-day moving average of $173.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,200. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $47,225,230. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

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.