Guinness Asset Management LTD Purchases 17,667 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 209,097 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,667 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Meritage Group LP grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.26.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $179.63 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.35 and a 52 week high of $180.85.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,958 shares of company stock valued at $22,383,553 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.