Veridan Wealth LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Veridan Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,254 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the quarter. Veridan Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% in 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 bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th 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 last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 4.21% 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 dated 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 $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock worth $35,782,927. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $170.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $165.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.17.

Alphabet Company 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.