Rakuten Securities Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 22.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,400 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,458 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of Rakuten Securities Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Rakuten Securities Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded down $6.68 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $166.64. 75,073,701 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,699,179. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

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.