Wexford Capital LP Purchases 6,991 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wexford Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 269.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,585 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,991 shares during the period. Wexford Capital LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.19 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $158.21 and its 200 day moving average is $175.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

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.