Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Founders Capital Management LLC's 9th Largest Position

Founders Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 105,439 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,596 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.0% of Founders Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Founders Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.65 during trading on Thursday, reaching $175.70. The stock had a trading volume of 20,879,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,364,105. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm's fifty day moving average is $161.71 and its 200 day moving average is $174.51. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 issued its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.