Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by LexAurum Advisors LLC

LexAurum Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,387 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Community Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $160.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for 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 previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% 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 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% 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.