Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 74,955 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 21.9% in Q1, now holding 416,923 shares valued at approximately $64.47 million.
• Several institutional investors have recently increased or acquired positions in Alphabet, with institutional ownership now standing at 40.03% of the company’s stock.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with the ex-dividend date set for September 8th, representing an annual yield of 0.4%.

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 21.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 416,923 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 74,955 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $64,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,593,201,000 after buying an additional 7,774,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,375,509,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Loop Capital restated a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $221.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4%

GOOGL stock traded up $5.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $239.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 37,672,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,417,184. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $240.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm's 50-day moving average is $198.22 and its 200-day moving average is $176.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. 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.