Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Eagle Strategies LLC

Eagle Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,673 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the period. Eagle Strategies LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $178.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.52. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $203.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.95.

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.