Optimum Investment Advisors Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 815 shares during the quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. M. Kraus & Co lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Aire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Defined Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, WealthCare Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,473 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total transaction of $1,826,979.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total transaction of $1,826,979.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s 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 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.26.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.63 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.35 and a twelve month high of $180.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.55, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $170.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.56.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.