Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Acquires 11,183 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 39.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,592 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,183 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 7.9% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 3,749 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% during the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 174,519 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,988,000 after buying an additional 7,001 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the first quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 5,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% during the first quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 15,007 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,321,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 24.8% in the first quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 121,707 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,821,000 after purchasing an additional 24,152 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $168.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.

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