GFG Capital LLC Sells 15,742 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GFG Capital LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 16.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,679 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 15,742 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.5% of GFG Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. GFG Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 183,343 shares of company stock valued at $31,296,140. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $0.67 on Thursday, hitting $183.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,732,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,004,194. The firm has a market cap of $2.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $171.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.20. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 target price (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.41.

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.