Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by PDS Planning Inc

PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,723 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $179.08. 21,689,729 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,547,766. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $168.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.