QV Investors Inc. Has $26.91 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

QV Investors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 178,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of QV Investors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% in the first quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 67,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,229,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $331,000. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the first quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 97,373 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,697,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 4,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, NEW THINKING HONG KONG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CO. Ltd raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 234.5% during the first quarter. NEW THINKING HONG KONG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CO. Ltd now owns 51,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,697,000 after purchasing an additional 35,754 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

GOOGL stock traded up $15.95 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $171.95. The company had a trading volume of 64,665,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.54 and a 52 week high of $174.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $147.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.39.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

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.