Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Boosted by Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 76,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,661 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.0% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Alphabet stock opened at $201.96 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $182.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.