Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 962,847 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 14,832 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $182,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 100,467 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,018,000 after buying an additional 4,377 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 23,593 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,466,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Market Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 11,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,101,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.
View Our Latest Stock Report on GOOGL
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $152.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,365,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,728,924. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50-day moving average price is $159.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.18. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.
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 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 analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Profile
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Free Report)
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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