Sowell Financial Services LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 98,242 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,293 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.7% of Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $175.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $163.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.74.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.