Insight Inv LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Insight Inv LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 114.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 37,909 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 20,229 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.2% of Insight Inv LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Insight Inv LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $179.08. 21,689,729 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,590,492. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

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. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. 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.