Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Holdings Boosted by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,406,516 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 86,358 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.3% of Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 0.05% of Alphabet worth $1,212,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % 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 valued at $25,361,647 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $147.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.74.

About Alphabet

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.