Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s 6th Largest Position

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,093,985 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 127,558 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Alphabet worth $2,179,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Patron Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 11,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,773,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Westwind Capital grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.9% during the first quarter. Westwind Capital now owns 1,743 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.4% during the first quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 39,592 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,151,000 after purchasing an additional 11,183 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.9% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 3,749 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 174,519 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,988,000 after purchasing an additional 7,001 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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