Cardinal Capital Management Purchases 2,236 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cardinal Capital Management grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 66,641 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,236 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of Cardinal Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Meritage Group LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total transaction of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Argus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.66.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $182.15 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.35 and a 12-month high of $186.05. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $172.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.14.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.