Forum Financial Management LP Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Forum Financial Management LP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,756 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.2% of Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,455,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $830,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 135,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,964,000 after buying an additional 10,342 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $168.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 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%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.