Griffin Asset Management Inc. Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $183.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.83 and a 1 year high of $187.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders 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 (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.