Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Scharf Investments LLC

Scharf Investments LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,266 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $186.86. The company had a trading volume of 13,007,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,299,447. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.83 and a fifty-two week high of $187.50. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $173.26 and its 200 day moving average is $154.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

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.