Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,020,401 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 16,508 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $193,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 56,723 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,737 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $766,000. Crestline Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5,584.8% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 233,078 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $44,122,000 after acquiring an additional 228,978 shares during the period. Capital Advantage Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $742,000. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC now owns 3,359,400 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $635,934,000 after buying an additional 483,000 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

GOOGL stock opened at $163.23 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $159.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.42. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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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