Stifel Financial Corp Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,406,516 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 86,358 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of Stifel Financial Corp's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.05% of Alphabet worth $1,212,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.03.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of GOOGL traded up $2.68 on Friday, reaching $161.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 55,957,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,435,946. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $162.18 and a 200-day moving average of $175.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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.