Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Marest Capital LLC

Marest Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,770 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.5% of Marest Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Marest Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $177.23 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $165.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

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.