Viewpoint Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Viewpoint Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,859 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Partnership Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,012,608.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

GOOG traded down $3.44 on Friday, hitting $183.42. The company had a trading volume of 23,032,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,822,788. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $187.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.