Park Avenue Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Veracity Capital LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its position in Alphabet by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after buying an additional 4,044 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 7,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 14,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,102,000 after buying an additional 648 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $180.26 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.83 and a 12-month high of $182.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $171.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.