Affinity Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 1,644 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Affinity Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 38.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,929 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,644 shares during the quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $2.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $176.77. 27,324,356 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,428,139. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $162.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 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. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

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.