Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 39.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,027 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,651 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. M. Kraus & Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Aire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,274 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Defined Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $193.66.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded down $3.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $182.15. 29,156,644 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,478,628. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $172.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.29. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $115.35 and a one year high of $186.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total transaction of $3,502,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,325,513 shares of the company's stock, valued at $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 682 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.