Emerald Advisors LLC Acquires 628 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Emerald Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 628 shares during the quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,606,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,336,359 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.26.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.61 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $176.62. 21,514,878 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,180,496. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $166.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.26. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.35 and a 52 week high of $178.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total value of $3,973,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,235,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $394,746,532.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 157,458 shares of company stock worth $25,538,973. 11.55% of the stock is 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.