Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Sells 8,034 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 18.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 36,538 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,034 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $2.43 on Tuesday, reaching $174.36. The stock had a trading volume of 40,396,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,679,368. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 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 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.