Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Boosted by Marest Capital LLC

Marest Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,770 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of Marest Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Marest Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 12,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Greenbush Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Greenbush Financial Group LLC now owns 13,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,143,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Wendell David Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. now owns 3,228 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Bell Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the first quarter. Bell Bank now owns 36,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,717,000 after buying an additional 3,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.5% in the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 7,657 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,196,000 after buying an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $177.23 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $165.52 and a 200-day moving average of $176.44.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.