WealthTrust Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,818 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,969 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of WealthTrust Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,596 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 31,447 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,863,000 after purchasing an additional 2,776 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,249 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares during the last quarter. Draper Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Draper Asset Management LLC now owns 95,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,763,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 67,495 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,437,000 after buying an additional 1,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. JMP Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Alphabet from $171.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.68.
Read Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%
GOOGL traded up $1.48 on Friday, reaching $185.06. 33,864,714 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,179,845. The company's 50 day moving average is $172.90 and its 200-day moving average is $173.12. 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 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.00.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.
Alphabet Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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