Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Cooper Financial Group

Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,512 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,144 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.5% of Cooper Financial Group's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Cooper Financial Group's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% during 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 buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $203.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $184.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

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.

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