Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $160.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.