Dover Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Dover Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,178 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,231 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.2% of Dover Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Dover Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at 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 own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $174.67 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $162.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.68. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.