Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Purchases 18,200 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 39.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,888 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 18,200 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.98 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $158.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. 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 (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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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