Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS Acquires 5,687 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 13.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,242 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,687 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.4% of Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $169.73. The stock had a trading volume of 52,598,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,980,554. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The business's 50-day moving average price is $159.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.