Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Lessened by Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA

Key Points

• Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 11.6% during the second quarter, now holding 25,126 shares valued at approximately $4.43 million.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock for roughly $7.47 million, marking a 1.32% decrease in his ownership.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Alphabet, with Citigroup raising theirs from $225 to $280, and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $231.31.

Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,126 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,298 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.9% of Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Copia Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $122,000. Harraden Circle Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $276,000. Finally, Anchor Pointe Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $1,015,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $247.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $213.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Citigroup increased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $231.31.

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.

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