Capital Investment Advisors LLC Buys 15,878 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 413,802 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,878 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.3% of Capital Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $63,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $173.68 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm's 50 day moving average is $160.14 and its 200-day moving average is $174.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped 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. Ten investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.

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