Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Blue Investment Partners LLC

Key Points

• Blue Investment Partners LLC has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.9%, selling 1,545 shares and now holding 38,388 shares, which represents 2.2% of its investment portfolio.
• Alphabet's latest earnings report showed a profit of $2.31 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenues of $96.43 billion against an estimate of $93.60 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of **$0.21 per share**, set to be paid on September 15, reflecting a 0.4% annualized yield.

Blue Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,388 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,545 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.2% of Blue Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Blue Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.2%

Alphabet stock opened at $206.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 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 fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $208.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $186.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.37.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,200. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% 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.

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