Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,151,874 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 16,182 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.6% of Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY's holdings in Alphabet were worth $218,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $4.43 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.90. The stock had a trading volume of 37,917,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,780,742. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.76. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business'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 value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.