First Manhattan CO. LLC. Buys 8,515 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,948,857 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,515 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.1% of First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $370,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $152.75. 32,365,483 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,778,717. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna cut their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet 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.