Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Sovran Advisors LLC

Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 77.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,619 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,933 shares during the quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $168.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 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 analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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