First Trust Advisors LP Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,374,992 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 137,955 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $452,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 68,278 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,003,000 after purchasing an additional 4,091 shares during the last quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $875,000. Generation Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,930,000. Holcombe Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 33,016 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,288,000 after acquiring an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.38.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $3.45 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $157.35. The company had a trading volume of 8,818,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,368,132. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $165.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.32. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.