D Orazio & Associates Inc. Acquires 161 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,846 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 8,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 124,040 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,379,000 after purchasing an additional 3,787 shares during the period. James Hambro & Partners LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. James Hambro & Partners LLP now owns 887,368 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $138,531,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 328.3% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 28,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,423,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Finally, Newport Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Newport Capital Group LLC now owns 2,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $175.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $164.57 and its 200 day moving average is $176.34. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.