International Assets Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,802 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,065 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet 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 owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.41 during trading on Monday, reaching $177.12. 11,447,146 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,177,392. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The business's fifty day moving average is $166.45 and its 200-day moving average is $174.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

About Alphabet

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.