Buffington Mohr McNeal Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Buffington Mohr McNeal lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,099 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,661 shares during the quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.00 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $177.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 29,191,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,781,916. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $169.67 and a 200-day moving average of $173.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.