Donaldson Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,482 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th 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 during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 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 shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $175.14. The stock had a trading volume of 19,240,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,324,599. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $162.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.57. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

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.