Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC’s 7th Largest Position

Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 20.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 245,416 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,811 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 5.3% of Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $737,000. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 210,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $39,996,000 after buying an additional 980 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Phillip Securities lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.56.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of GOOG opened at $239.56 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $200.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $242.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.