Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Acquires 7,535 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, holding 387,060 shares valued at approximately $59.9 million.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other analysts raised their price targets for Alphabet, with JPMorgan now at $232.00, reflecting a positive outlook with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with the ex-dividend date set for September 8th, indicating a 0.43% yield for investors.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 387,060 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,535 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $59,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BG Investment Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $269,000. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 30,158 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,664,000 after buying an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Black Swift Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Black Swift Group LLC now owns 1,450 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dempze Nancy E lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Dempze Nancy E now owns 34,222 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,292,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Roth Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.4%

Alphabet stock traded down $4.63 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $191.90. The stock had a trading volume of 51,122,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,187,600. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $177.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

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.