Bell Bank Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Bell Bank raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,868 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $177.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.