Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Cut by Polen Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Polen Capital Management LLC significantly reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 50.3%, selling over 619,000 shares, leaving it with approximately 610,910 shares valued at $94.47 million.
• Alphabet received favorable ratings from multiple analysts, with target prices ranging from $172 to $225, reflecting strong confidence in the company's stock performance.
• Insider transactions included notable sales by John Kent Walker, who sold over 23,000 shares, indicating a 35.65% decrease in his holdings.

Polen Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 50.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 610,910 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 619,287 shares during the quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $94,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,509,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 73,282 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,873,000 after buying an additional 13,564 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson raised their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $203.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock's 50-day moving average is $184.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.20. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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