Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Kestra Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 61.7% during the 1st quarter, owning 40,359 shares valued at $6.24 million after purchasing an additional 15,407 shares.
• Insider sales included Alphabet Director Kavitark Ram Shriram selling 18,566 shares and CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares, indicating a 7.09% and 1.30% decrease in their respective ownerships.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.4%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 8th.

Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 61.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,359 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,407 shares during the quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,637,000 after purchasing an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $221.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%

GOOGL stock traded up $2.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $236.33. 6,857,260 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,606,133. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.73. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $238.13.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Alphabet Company 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.