Blankinship & Foster LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Blankinship & Foster LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,779 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 559 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.3% of Blankinship & Foster LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Blankinship & Foster LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Sonata Capital Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.1% during the third quarter. Sonata Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,720 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% in the third quarter. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. now owns 5,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 34,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,227,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Prairie Sky Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $259,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 37.2% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 53,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,015,000 after purchasing an additional 14,542 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $174.99 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.35 and a 1-year high of $178.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $160.81 and a 200 day moving average of $146.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.61 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.57.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 205,935 shares of company stock worth $31,178,987 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.