Huntleigh Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Huntleigh Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 200,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,928,000. Alphabet makes up 18.8% of Huntleigh Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th 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. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in 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 worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $173.32 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Research 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.