Sentry LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sentry LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,472 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 742 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.3% of Sentry LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Sentry LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $177.94 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $165.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.43. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its 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 $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.