Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Increased by Saratoga Research & Investment Management

Saratoga Research & Investment Management raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,001,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 160,884 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 6.9% of Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $151,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PointState Capital LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $28,651,000. 3G Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 141.7% during the third quarter. 3G Capital Partners LP now owns 72,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,487,000 after purchasing an additional 42,500 shares in the last quarter. Karani Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 97.4% during the 3rd quarter. Karani Asset Management LLC now owns 13,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,782,000 after buying an additional 6,720 shares during the last quarter. Dempze Nancy E lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dempze Nancy E now owns 33,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,396,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 183,695 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,038,000 after buying an additional 3,456 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total value of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 123,788 shares of company stock worth $21,143,403. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $185.24 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.35 and a 12-month high of $186.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.05. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $173.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.80.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.66.

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.