South Plains Financial Inc. Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 17,404 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,295,000. Alphabet accounts for about 2.5% of South Plains Financial Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Cypress Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $2,503,000. ArborFi Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $418,000. Palestra Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Palestra Capital Management LLC now owns 752,488 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $142,446,000 after buying an additional 113,654 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 59.8% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 162,446 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $28,522,000 after acquiring an additional 60,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 67,443 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,767,000 after acquiring an additional 3,232 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.73 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $164.03. 25,689,744 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,219,299. The business has a 50 day moving average of $160.19 and a 200 day moving average of $175.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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 analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.46.

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.