Affiance Financial LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Affiance Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Affiance Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ellis Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.6% in the first quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 28,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 2,258 shares in the last quarter. Clarity Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Clarity Financial LLC now owns 4,956 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,379 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,170,000 after buying an additional 3,532 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,510 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,190,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 126.7% in the first quarter. Northeast Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 7,918 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

GOOGL stock opened at $182.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.14. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.35 and a 12 month high of $186.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,012,608.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393 in the last ninety days. 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.