Brand Asset Management Group Inc. Purchases 88 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Brand Asset Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Brand Asset Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Burt Wealth Advisors grew 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% in 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 in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $166.18 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $159.26 and its 200-day moving average is $174.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 163,270 shares of company stock worth $26,553,563 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.