Courier Capital LLC Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Courier Capital LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 20.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,220 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,653 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Alphabet stock traded down $1.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $174.67. 27,636,835 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,391,072. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $162.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.57.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. 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.