Advisor Resource Council Purchases Shares of 54,831 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Advisor Resource Council acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 54,831 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,899,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the first quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 87,505 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,532,000 after purchasing an additional 5,286 shares during the period. Compass Ion Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the first quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 11,761 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 12,288 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the period. Stableford Capital II LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 59,636 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,015,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proathlete Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the first quarter. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,715 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,123,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.83.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $1.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $166.79. 31,994,412 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,732,059. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $164.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.