Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Has $3.09 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,783 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,740 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.7% of Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $5.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $175.02. 16,762,747 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,141,145. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.74, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The stock's 50-day moving average is $161.56 and its 200-day moving average is $176.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.