Anchor Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,677 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of Anchor Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 79,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,985,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triumph Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 5,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $239.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $240.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company’s 50 day moving average is $198.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Alphabet 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.