Foster Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Foster Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,578 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,387 shares during the quarter. Foster Group Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,955,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $168.21 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $159.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.

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