Suncoast Equity Management Purchases 10,907 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Suncoast Equity Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 170,616 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,907 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.0% of Suncoast Equity Management's holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Suncoast Equity Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Weaver Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.3% during the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 7,231 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 6,672 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. CCG Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the first quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,175 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the first quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 210,667 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $32,578,000 after buying an additional 7,329 shares during the period. Finally, World Equity Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the first quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 20,414 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.17.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $3.91 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $170.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,362,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,801,769. The stock's 50-day moving average is $165.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.