Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,193,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 488,340 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of First Trust Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $793,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.74.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $151.08 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company’s 50 day moving average is $165.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.91. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 results 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.