Equita Financial Network Inc. Buys Shares of 1,812 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Equita Financial Network Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,812 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. JMP Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.61.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $180.19. 34,129,675 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,853,810. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $169.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. 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 is currently 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.