Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Boosted by First Affirmative Financial Network

First Affirmative Financial Network increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,168 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of First Affirmative Financial Network’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $174.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $161.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

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.