Leavell Investment Management Inc. Buys 3,085 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,271 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,085 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth 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 acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in 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 valued at $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price target (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $183.58. 31,918,761 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 32,090,183. The company has a market cap of $2.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $171.67 and a 200 day moving average of $173.20.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio 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.