Islay Capital Management LLC Has $1.74 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Islay Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,367 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.3% of Islay Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Islay Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,336,359 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $407,367,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $174.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $171.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.16 and a fifty-two week high of $174.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $151.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

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.