Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.13% of Alphabet worth $2,483,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $169.73. The stock had a trading volume of 52,598,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,980,356. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.59.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.