Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,418 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

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.