Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC Invests $8.09 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 52,334 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,093,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.5% of Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $176.09 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.46. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.