GAMMA Investing LLC Has $14.32 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 19.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,681 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,931 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $178.27 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.88.

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.