Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,614,412 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 610,315 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Brown Advisory Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,441,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.46.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock's 50-day moving average is $160.19 and its 200-day moving average is $175.41. The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.

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