Allen Investment Management LLC Sells 18,482 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Allen Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 16.5%, selling 18,482 shares and bringing its total holdings to 93,294 shares valued at approximately $14.4 million.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet on July 2nd for around $5.8 million, reducing his ownership by 1.25% and leaving him with nearly 2.56 million shares.
• Several analysts raised their target prices for Alphabet, with Needham & Company increasing it from $210 to $220 and Citigroup from $203 to $225, while the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy."

Allen Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 16.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,294 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 18,482 shares during the quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $42,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Barclays upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.39.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $5.91 on Monday, reaching $195.04. 31,493,654 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,132,445. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $178.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. Corporate 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.