Westside Investment Management Inc. Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,362 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.5% of Westside Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $154,716,000. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $168.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane restated a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.95.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.