Topsail Wealth Management LLC Has $1.62 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Topsail Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 52.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,486 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,628 shares during the period. Topsail Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in 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 buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in 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 buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in 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 buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $185.06. 33,864,714 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,124,723. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $172.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.12. 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 (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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $178.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.68.

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.