Amalgamated Bank Purchases 22,700 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,281,303 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,700 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.7% of Amalgamated Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $198,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.95.

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.