Donaldson Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 37.8% in the third quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 4,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 20.3% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 75,720 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,909,000 after acquiring an additional 12,756 shares during the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 177,286 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,200,000 after acquiring an additional 8,706 shares in the last quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.4% in the third quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,496 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 88,542 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $15.95 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $171.95. 64,665,299 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $103.54 and a one year high of $174.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.82.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.