Curbstone Financial Management Corp Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Curbstone Financial Management Corp lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,592 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $177.35 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $161.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.51. 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 $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.