Stonebridge Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 22.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,541 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 6,855 shares during the quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $179.08. 21,689,729 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,590,492. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50 day moving average is $168.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.55% 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.