Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Acquires Shares of 43,623 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 43,623 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,746,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $174.67. The stock had a trading volume of 27,636,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,440,616. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $162.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a PEG 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.