Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 38.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 113,229 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 70,371 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.8% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.9%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $4.99 on Friday, hitting $178.53. 107,974,317 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,238,454. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $166.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.95.

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.