Financial Counselors Inc. Buys 18,224 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 756,755 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 18,224 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.8% of Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $117,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.61.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 215,443 shares of company stock worth $36,298,548 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $181.56. 32,482,647 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,605,242. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $170.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. 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 earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.