Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Wittenberg Investment Management Inc.'s 5th Largest Position

Key Points

• Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. reduced its holding in Alphabet Inc. by 20.5% in Q1, now owning approximately 5.6% of its total portfolio, valued at $12.36 million.
• Analysts have issued mostly positive ratings for Alphabet, with price targets raised by multiple firms, including Tigress Financial increasing it to $240.00 and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to $232.00.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.4%, with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 20.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,952 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 20,660 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 5.6% of Wittenberg Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Wittenberg Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position 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 during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $0.93 during trading on Monday, reaching $202.97. 8,120,594 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,489,773. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company 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 predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.