Opinicus Capital Inc. Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Opinicus Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Opinicus Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,600,970,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 198.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $547,215,000 after buying an additional 2,583,128 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 93.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,591,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $647,064,000 after buying an additional 2,222,950 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the sale, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Alphabet stock traded down $3.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $183.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,032,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,822,788. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.83 and a 1 year high of $187.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $174.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.53.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.86.

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.