Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Driehaus Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 100.4%, owning 8,836 shares valued at approximately $1.37 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with an average target of $211.53 and a general outlook of "Moderate Buy" from the consensus.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, representing an annual yield of 0.4%.

Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 100.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,836 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,426 shares during the quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of 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 trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $47,225,230. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wedbush raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.79.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $211.35. 44,817,750 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,246,723. The company has a market cap of $2.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $214.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $191.39 and a 200 day moving average of $174.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

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.