Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Position Lifted by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,211,074 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,617 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.5% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $189,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.6% in the first quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 21,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the first quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 9,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the first quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 39,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.1% in the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 511,515 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $79,914,000 after acquiring an additional 29,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GPM Growth Investors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.9% in the first quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc. now owns 2,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 182,943 shares of company stock valued at $31,223,348 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $207.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $183.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.74. The company has a market capitalization of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.