Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 39.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,462,446 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 412,466 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $276,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Mizuho dropped their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.89.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $159.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,587,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,249,013. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $161.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.60. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.