Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Albion Financial Group UT’s 6th Largest Position

Albion Financial Group UT boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 264,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,691 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.9% of Albion Financial Group UT’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Hanlon Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.87. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.