Walter Public Investments Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Walter Public Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 161,623 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,866 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.7% of Walter Public Investments Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Walter Public Investments Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $25,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Investment Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,618 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,190,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $344,000. Bank Hapoalim BM raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank Hapoalim BM now owns 68,490 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,497 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 82,868 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,946,000 after purchasing an additional 20,861 shares during the period. Finally, Family Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,447 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $207.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $2.61 on Friday, hitting $181.31. 23,949,486 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,422,256. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.