IMS Capital Management Acquires 2,295 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

IMS Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 22.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,295 shares during the period. IMS Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 59.2% during the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $159.40. 22,180,869 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,140,625. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $178.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,808 shares of company stock valued at $17,732,125 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.