Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Confluence Wealth Services Inc.

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,212 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 253,289 shares of company stock worth $36,724,534. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of GOOGL traded down $3.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $162.78. The stock had a trading volume of 33,503,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,866,035. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.71 and a 1-year high of $174.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.79. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.97, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.74.

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.