Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,418 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,456,000.
Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Alphabet Price Performance
NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $176.09. The stock had a trading volume of 28,876,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,199,290. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet
Alphabet Company Profile
(
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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