Simplicity Wealth LLC Acquires 18,041 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 116.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,581 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 18,041 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value 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 $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $176.11. The company had a trading volume of 9,794,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,313,061. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $161.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.