Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Consulta Ltd

Consulta Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,000,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 100,000 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 12.4% of Consulta Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Consulta Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $189,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.46.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.23 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $159.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.42. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603 over the last quarter. 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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