D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 5.1%, making the stock its 5th largest position at 2.8% of its portfolio, valued at approximately $14.4 million.
• Wall Street analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with an average target price now at $211.53, reflecting strong confidence in the company's performance.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.4%, with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,398 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,002 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.8% of D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth $1,381,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the first quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 2,721,620 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $420,871,000 after purchasing an additional 109,753 shares during the period. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 33,391 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.1% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 136,575 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,120,000 after purchasing an additional 21,888 shares during the period. Finally, Entrewealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 62.3% in the first quarter. Entrewealth LLC now owns 2,545 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $212.91. The company had a trading volume of 39,702,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,138,272. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $190.44 and a 200 day moving average of $173.96. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $214.65. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

About Alphabet

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.