BCS Wealth Management Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

BCS Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,892 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after purchasing an additional 6,010,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4,894.1% in 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 in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $179.63 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.35 and a twelve month high of $180.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total transaction of $1,826,979.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total value of $1,826,979.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at $7,365,523.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.26.

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.