Apella Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Apella Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 46.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,025 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,167 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0%

GOOG traded up $5.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $174.92. 22,239,619 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,389,186. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50 day moving average is $161.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.09. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.