Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MKT Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Permanent Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the first quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP now owns 1,685 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 26.1% during the first quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 28,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,350,000 after buying an additional 5,820 shares during the period. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 25,691 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,973,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. 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 50 day simple moving average is $160.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

About Alphabet

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.