Night Squared LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,191 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,421,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.
View Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $47,225,230. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%
Shares of GOOGL opened at $212.91 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $190.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $214.65.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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.
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