Equita Financial Network Inc. Makes New $280,000 Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Perritt Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,249,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Enzi Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was 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 $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of GOOGL traded down $0.59 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $176.03. The company had a trading volume of 10,160,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,709,867. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $169.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

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 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's 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.