Prospect Financial Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Prospect Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 38,883 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.4% of Prospect Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Prospect Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 287.9% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

GOOG opened at $169.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share 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 given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

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.