Sky Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,442 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.8% of Sky Investment Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Sky Investment Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.
Get Our Latest Report on GOOGL
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $1.03 on Friday, hitting $174.67. 27,636,835 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,391,108. The firm's 50 day moving average is $162.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.61. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors 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 positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Alphabet Profile
(
Free Report)
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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