Boston Common Asset Management LLC Purchases 36,980 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 27.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 170,429 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,980 shares during the quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. jvl associates llc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 16,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,475,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% in the first quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 47,242 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,306,000 after purchasing an additional 5,687 shares in the last quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 28,424 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,395,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Marotta Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 2,724 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% during the first quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,992 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $172.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $159.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.73.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

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.