Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 38.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,527 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 22,381 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of Stanley Laman Group Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded down $1.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $174.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 27,636,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,440,616. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company's 50-day moving average is $162.89 and its 200-day moving average is $174.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.