Channel Wealth LLC Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Channel Wealth LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,897 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.3% of Channel Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Channel Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,455,571,000 after acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% 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, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $169.39 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $161.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.