Bluesphere Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bluesphere Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 35,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,041 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.1% of Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,035,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,453,856,000 after acquiring an additional 335,219 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,064,614 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,279,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 24,145,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,159,669,000 after buying an additional 2,058,221 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $168.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $105.16 and a 52-week high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

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.