Spring Capital Management LLC Takes $730,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Spring Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,670 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, jvl associates llc grew its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $169.81. 24,768,167 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,311,637. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day moving average is $161.29 and its 200-day moving average is $176.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet 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.