Ballentine Partners LLC Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ballentine Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 145,165 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,975 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $203.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.68.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $185.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 33,864,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,179,845. 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 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.00. The business's fifty day moving average is $172.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.