Wakefield Asset Management LLLP raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 14.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,752 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,664 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of Wakefield Asset Management LLLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the first quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 181,501 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,067,000 after acquiring an additional 3,734 shares in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH grew its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the first quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH now owns 63,558 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,829,000 after buying an additional 2,042 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% during the first quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 5,585 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $864,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $74,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Price Performance
Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.77 on Friday, hitting $189.13. The company had a trading volume of 34,777,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,669,572. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.12. 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 Dividend Announcement
The company 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 yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.39.
Get Our Latest Report on GOOGL
Alphabet Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also

Before you consider Alphabet, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Alphabet wasn't on the list.
While Alphabet currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Wondering what the next stocks will be that hit it big, with solid fundamentals? Enter your email address to see which stocks MarketBeat analysts could become the next blockbuster growth stocks.
Get This Free Report