BG Investment Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,741 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• BG Investment Services Inc. has invested approximately $269,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by acquiring 1,741 shares in the first quarter of the year.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid out on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.43%.
• Insider transactions included CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares at an average price of $184.38, reducing his ownership by 1.27%.

BG Investment Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,741 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 73,282 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,873,000 after purchasing an additional 13,564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $189.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,777,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,669,572. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The business's 50 day moving average price is $177.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.12. The company has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson increased their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.39.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.