Saratoga Research & Investment Management Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Saratoga Research & Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 39,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,193,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the period. Akaris Global Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 61.7% in the 3rd quarter. Akaris Global Partners LP now owns 164,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,623,000 after purchasing an additional 62,600 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 128.1% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 106,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,520,000 after purchasing an additional 59,778 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $804,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 234,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $183.42 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $174.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.83 and a fifty-two week high of $187.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its 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 $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s 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 owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.86.

Alphabet Company 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.