Atwood & Palmer Inc. Has $3.87 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,019 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $177.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $161.71 and its 200-day moving average is $174.51. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

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.