Rafferty Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 732,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,859 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $138,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $165.37 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $158.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.