West Branch Capital LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,742 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,697 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 4.6% of West Branch Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. West Branch Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during 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 raised its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $175.32. 16,502,476 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,397,248. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $163.88 and a 200 day moving average of $174.74. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.
Insider Activity
In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.
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About Alphabet
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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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