Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Has $19.90 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 130,722 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,586 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.4% of Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,841 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $219,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 22,982 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,608 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.9% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 222,607 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,351,000 after acquiring an additional 42,922 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% in the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 65,461 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,631,000 after purchasing an additional 7,505 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $180.26 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.83 and a 1-year high of $182.51. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.96.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

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.