Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Holdings Reduced by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 23.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,902 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,646 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of Sentry Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Sentry Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth 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. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler 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. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 163,270 shares of company stock valued at $26,553,563. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.87 on Wednesday, hitting $168.05. 26,849,749 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,042,445. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. 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 $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $159.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. 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 firm posted $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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. 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.