Alpine Bank Wealth Management Makes New $3.19 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 20,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,185,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after purchasing an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $171.49 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.24. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,452,029.28. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock worth $35,782,927 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.88.

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.