Zhang Financial LLC Purchases 4,241 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Zhang Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,610 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $175.70 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.