Stifel Financial Corp Acquires 84,059 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,535,678 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 84,059 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.7% of Stifel Financial Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $673,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 12.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.88.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $153.36 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $167.16 and its 200-day moving average is $177.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.