Perennial Advisors LLC Buys 747 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Perennial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 91,148 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.8% of Perennial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Perennial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,088,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $204,262,000. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 246.2% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $174.92 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average is $161.88 and its 200-day moving average is $176.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.