Ballew Advisors Inc Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ballew Advisors Inc raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,427 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the quarter. Ballew Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 2,827,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $437,194,000 after buying an additional 22,143 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA now owns 824,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $127,539,000 after acquiring an additional 7,443 shares in the last quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 308,812 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,755,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $193,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the first quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 3,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $174.67 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $162.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.61. The company has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.