Kennedy Investment Group Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kennedy Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 32.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,049 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Veridan Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Veridan Wealth LLC now owns 2,254 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. MBE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,956 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 8,818 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. Cassia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% in the first quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,403 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the first quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $170.68 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.17.

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.