&Partners Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

&Partners increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,209 shares during the quarter. &Partners’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Meritage Group LP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 55.9% during the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,012,608.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total value of $1,826,979.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,958 shares of company stock valued at $22,383,553 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.63 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.35 and a 12-month high of $180.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.26.

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.