Annex Advisory Services LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 13.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,786 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,480 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1%

Alphabet stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $168.21. 34,550,448 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,112,310. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $159.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.