Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Kaizen Financial Strategies

Kaizen Financial Strategies lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 24.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 20,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,173 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.3% of Kaizen Financial Strategies’ holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Kaizen Financial Strategies’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $154.38 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.