Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY

Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 7,368 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 153,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,735 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 15,685 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,426,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.83.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. 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.