FORA Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 755.2%, acquiring a total of 53,448 shares, valued at approximately $8.27 million.
• Other hedge funds, including Nuveen LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, also significantly increased their positions in Alphabet, with GAMMA raising its stake by an extraordinary 16,993.2%.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, showcasing a modest yield of 0.4% against its earnings reported in the last quarter.

FORA Capital LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 755.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,448 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 47,198 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of FORA Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. FORA Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,265,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $212.91. 39,702,089 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,893,466. The company has a market cap of $2.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $214.65. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $190.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

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.