Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,212 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Meritage Group LP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 165.8% during the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 253,289 shares of company stock worth $36,724,534. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded down $3.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $162.78. 33,503,634 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,866,035. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.79. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.71 and a 1-year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%.

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.