First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,152 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,019 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.6% of First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $48,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Hampshire Trust raised its position in Alphabet by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $359,000. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP increased its stake in Alphabet by 58.4% during the first quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 6,374 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $771,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,835 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 241,752 shares of company stock valued at $40,156,829 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $1.27 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $181.62. 25,122,860 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,119,752. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.84, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company's fifty day moving average is $163.88 and its 200-day moving average is $169.91. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.90 and a 52 week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.90.

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.