SJS Investment Consulting Inc. Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.4% of SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 82.8% during the first quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp now owns 3,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 92.5% during the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 31,439 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 15,106 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 91,681 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,323,000 after buying an additional 14,931 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 12.5% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 35,883 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,606,000 after buying an additional 3,980 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $177.63 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $162.26 and a 200 day moving average of $176.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders 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 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.