Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Buys 7,198 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 399.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,998 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,198 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,227,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,043,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $173.98 on Friday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $166.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.43. The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.

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