SGL Investment Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

SGL Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,074 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,377 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.6% of SGL Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. SGL Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

GOOG stock opened at $165.40 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.