Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 446.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,598 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 28,269 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Alphabet stock traded up $2.57 on Friday, hitting $180.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,243,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,878,935. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $170.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.46.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.61.
View Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Profile
(
Free Report)
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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