Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Novare Capital Management LLC

Novare Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 176,212 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,653 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.4% of Novare Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Novare Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.61.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $2.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $180.19. The stock had a trading volume of 34,243,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,878,935. 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 50-day simple moving average of $170.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.46. 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 $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.