CWA Asset Management Group LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 18.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,628 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 18,161 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of CWA Asset Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. CWA Asset Management Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $6.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $166.64. 75,073,701 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,587,197. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $164.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632. Corporate 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.