Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 73.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 189,485 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 80,324 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $35,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $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 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded up $2.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $164.03. 25,689,744 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,193,426. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $160.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. 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 yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.