CX Institutional Buys 1,917 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

CX Institutional raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,201 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the period. CX Institutional's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% 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 John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $0.83 on Thursday, reaching $177.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,356,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,074,047. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day moving average is $163.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. 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.