Root Financial Partners LLC Acquires 8,246 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 50.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,246 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.4% of Root Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Root Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 77.2% in the first quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 13,619 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,059,000 after purchasing an additional 5,933 shares during the period. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1,563.8% in the first quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 488,942 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 459,555 shares during the period. RBA Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the first quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,431 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,335,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 479,103 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $74,089,000 after buying an additional 1,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.6% in the first quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 58,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,062,000 after buying an additional 4,130 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $168.70 and its 200-day moving average is $173.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler raised 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. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.