Costello Asset Management INC Acquires 36,151 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Costello Asset Management INC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 116.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,151 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 4.2% of Costello Asset Management INC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Costello Asset Management INC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased 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 buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,593,201,000 after acquiring an additional 7,774,811 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $201.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock worth $49,674,273 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% 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.