Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Sierra Capital LLC

Sierra Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,148 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Sierra Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,443 shares of company stock worth $36,298,548 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.82.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

GOOGL stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $182.00. The stock had a trading volume of 33,367,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,923,445. The company's 50-day moving average price is $170.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 paid 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 yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.