Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,057 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth 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 bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% 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, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $176.09 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $160.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.46. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.