Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,875 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,117 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Requisite Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 100.2% in the 1st quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC now owns 4,672 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 2,338 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 41.3% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 106,535 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $16,475,000 after acquiring an additional 31,124 shares in the last quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the first quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 69,422 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,735,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the period. Parisi Gray Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the first quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 38,122 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Finally, Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 114,046 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,183 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This 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 this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $175.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,879,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,364,105. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $162.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.57. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Alphabet Company 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.