John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Buys 19,325 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 999.7%, acquiring an additional 19,325 shares in the first quarter, bringing their total holdings to 21,258 shares valued at approximately $3.29 million.
• Several analysts have raised their target prices for Alphabet, with Susquehanna increasing it from $220.00 to $225.00, contributing to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.39.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%, with the dividend payment date set for September 15th.

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 999.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,258 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 19,325 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $5.54 on Monday, hitting $194.67. The company had a trading volume of 17,907,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,036,859. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $178.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.