Virtu Financial LLC Acquires 883,898 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 56.2%, acquiring an additional 883,898 shares during the first quarter, making Alphabet its largest position.
• Alphabet recently reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and had a net margin of 31.12%.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.4%, to be paid on September 15th.

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 56.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,455,639 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 883,898 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 20.6% of Virtu Financial LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Virtu Financial LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $379,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 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 valued at $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position 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 valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $203.90 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

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.

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