World Equity Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

World Equity Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 11.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,414 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of World Equity Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. World Equity Group Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $4.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $178.53. 107,360,667 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,186,727. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm's fifty day moving average is $165.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.