Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Buys 5,966 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,951 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,966 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.0% of Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $1.41 on Monday, hitting $177.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,447,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,177,392. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $166.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.26. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

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.