Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Sells 20,789 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 471,277 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 20,789 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $89,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.36 on Wednesday, reaching $158.80. 34,484,953 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,226,752. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company's 50 day moving average is $161.20 and its 200-day moving average is $175.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Ten equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.