Armistice Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Armistice Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 40.2% in the first quarter, now owning a total of 297,000 shares valued at approximately $45.9 million.
• Insider sales included Director Kavitark Ram Shriram and John Kent Walker, who sold shares amounting to over $7.4 million combined, reflecting significant decreases in their positions.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.4%, and analysts have issued a consensus price target of $211.53 for the stock.

Armistice Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 40.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 297,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 85,112 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.7% of Armistice Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Armistice Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $45,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after acquiring an additional 104,859 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,317,606,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $211.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 44,817,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,246,723. The company has a market cap of $2.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $191.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $214.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.79.

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.