RiverFront Investment Group LLC Acquires 1,090 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

RiverFront Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $145.60 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.38 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $175.15 and a 200 day moving average of $176.93. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.