PFG Advisors Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

PFG Advisors grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,661 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,370 shares during the quarter. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Westpark Capital raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.32.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $192.58 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.79. The company has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.