Bellwether Advisors LLC Sells 7,981 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Bellwether Advisors LLC has decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 63.8% in the first quarter, reducing its share count from 12,517 to 4,536.
• After recent adjustments, 40.03% of Alphabet's stock is now owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Alphabet has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, set to be paid on September 15th, contributing to an annual yield of 0.4%.

Bellwether Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 63.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,536 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,981 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 6.7% in the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $197.15. 6,982,988 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,774,332. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The business's fifty day moving average price is $179.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.