Southland Equity Partners LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Southland Equity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $453,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.6% during the first quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,462 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,088,000 after buying an additional 2,762 shares during the period. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. grew its stake in Alphabet by 569.6% in the first quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 27,963 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,000 after purchasing an additional 23,787 shares during the last quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 49.7% in the first quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.9% in the first quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.22 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.35 and a 12-month high of $180.89. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $170.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,012,608.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,458 shares of company stock worth $26,375,053 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.26.

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.