Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Scharf Investments LLC

Scharf Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,723,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pegasus Partners Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. now owns 30,567 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,757 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Alphabet by 3.4% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 19,763 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,586,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the period. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.6% during the third quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,739 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,845,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.9% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 408,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,512,000 after acquiring an additional 53,123 shares during the period. Finally, O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 17,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,332,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, 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. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.66.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $182.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.29. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.35 and a 1-year high of $186.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.