Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Wambolt & Associates LLC

Key Points

• Wambolt & Associates LLC sold 1,259 shares of Alphabet Inc., reducing its holdings by 11.6% during the first quarter, now owning 9,600 shares valued at approximately $1.5 million.
• Insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares at an average price of $194.70, resulting in a 35.65% decrease in his position, while total insider sales over the last three months reached about $49.8 million.
• Alphabet recently announced a dividend of $0.21 per share, leading to an annualized yield of 0.4% and reflecting a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Wambolt & Associates LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 11.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,600 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,259 shares during the quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Westpark Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $0.96 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $203.90. The company had a trading volume of 34,909,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,799,464. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $184.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.