Romano Brothers AND Company Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Romano Brothers AND Company lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,206 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $169.03 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.53. 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 market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 163,270 shares of company stock valued at $26,553,563. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.