First Business Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,630 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,355 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.6% of First Business Financial Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. First Business Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $336,000. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. increased its position in Alphabet by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. now owns 33,289 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,148,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 170,876 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,424,000 after buying an additional 3,198 shares during the period. Melfa Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Melfa Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,690 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.32.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Stock Performance
NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $193.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 39,738,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $175.77 and a 200-day moving average of $172.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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.
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