9,418 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Acquired by Perennial Advisors LLC

Perennial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 9,418 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $160.14 and its 200-day moving average is $174.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for 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 last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following 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 trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.