Sunbelt Securities Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,103 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,264 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Alphabet stock traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $179.08. 21,689,729 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,547,766. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. 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 $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $168.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.08.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.