Wedmont Private Capital Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,830 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,838 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Wedmont Private Capital's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Wedmont Private Capital's holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.41 during trading on Monday, reaching $176.09. 28,876,123 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,199,313. The business's fifty day moving average is $160.14 and its 200-day moving average is $174.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week 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 $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a 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 payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.