Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Sawgrass Asset Management LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 258,923 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 29,099 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 4.9% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Mizuho decreased their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $173.54 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.57. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.01. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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