Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Holdings Boosted by Chesley Taft & Associates LLC

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Scharf Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 11,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,723,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.0% in the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 120,165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,136,000 after purchasing an additional 5,748 shares during the period. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 10,218 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 66,641 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,058,000 after buying an additional 2,236 shares during the period. Finally, ERn Financial LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 16,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,505,000 after buying an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.66.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Alphabet stock opened at $182.15 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.35 and a twelve month high of $186.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $172.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.