Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of GOOG opened at $169.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $161.29 and a 200 day moving average of $176.14. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. 12.99% of the stock is currently 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.