Olstein Capital Management L.P. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M. Kulyk & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $177.63 on Tuesday. 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 has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp cut their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.