Kaizen Financial Strategies Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kaizen Financial Strategies grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.3% of Kaizen Financial Strategies’ portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Kaizen Financial Strategies’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %

Alphabet stock opened at $152.75 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.