Forge First Asset Management Inc. Buys 12,800 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Forge First Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 55.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,800 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.3% of Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 4,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.2% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 61,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,602,000 after purchasing an additional 15,327 shares during the period. Finally, Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $410,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

Alphabet stock opened at $284.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $259.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.86. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $294.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 189,896 shares of company stock valued at $47,653,637 over the last 90 days. 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.