Rossby Financial LCC Acquires 1,808 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Rossby Financial LCC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 23.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,510 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,808 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.6% of Rossby Financial LCC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Rossby Financial LCC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position 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 buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

GOOGL traded up $1.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $177.79. 18,695,312 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,743,018. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company's fifty day moving average price is $169.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.69. The company has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.13.

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.