Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 9.2%, now holding approximately 9.16 million shares, which makes up about 1.6% of its portfolio.
• Analysts have recently adjusted their price targets for Alphabet, with a consensus target price of $211.32, and a significant number of firms maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, indicating a 0.43% yield and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,159,751 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 932,481 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.6% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.08% of Alphabet worth $1,416,437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its position in Alphabet by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,509,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 73,282 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,873,000 after buying an additional 13,564 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.32.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.01 during trading 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 company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $175.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.