Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Morningstar Investment Services LLC

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Services LLC has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 60.1%, selling 52,203 shares and now holding only 34,683 shares, valued at approximately $5.36 million.
• A number of other institutional investors have also entered positions in Alphabet, with 40.03% of the stock currently owned by institutional investors.
• Recent analyst reports have led to multiple upgrades for Alphabet's stock, with an average price target of $211.32 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Morningstar Investment Services LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 60.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,683 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 52,203 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.0% of Morningstar Investment Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Morningstar Investment Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

GOOGL traded up $1.01 on Friday, reaching $193.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 39,738,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The business's 50 day moving average is $175.77 and its 200 day moving average is $172.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Ten 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.32.

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.