Sweeney & Michel LLC Takes $9.80 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sweeney & Michel LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 66,869 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,802,000. Alphabet accounts for about 4.0% of Sweeney & Michel LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark restated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $2.24 on Thursday, hitting $171.63. 10,626,269 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,257,870. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $161.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.14. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG - 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 the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. 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 yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.