Sapient Capital LLC Sells 6,134 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sapient Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 859,491 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,134 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.6% of Sapient Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $132,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Alphabet stock traded down $1.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $174.67. The stock had a trading volume of 27,636,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,440,616. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $162.89 and a 200 day moving average of $174.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Company 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.