Hanson & Doremus Investment Management Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,927 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,960 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.1% of Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $787,000. New Hampshire Trust raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $359,000. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP grew its stake in Alphabet by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 2,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American International Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 1,951,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $272,655,000 after purchasing an additional 200,891 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 180,867 shares of company stock valued at $29,878,106 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.35.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $163.95 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $162.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $166.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.