Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC Buys 1,150 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 9,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management raised its position in Alphabet by 19.1% in the first quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 1,001,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $151,100,000 after purchasing an additional 160,884 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% during the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 176,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,727 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.4% during the first quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 24,861 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,709,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $185.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $173.38 and a 200-day moving average of $154.80. The company has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.35 and a 52 week high of $186.05.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 123,788 shares of company stock worth $21,143,403. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective (down previously from $182.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.66.

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.