Xcel Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Xcel Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 13.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,391 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,417 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.8% of Xcel Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Xcel Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during 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 buying an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during 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 buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.61.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was 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 directly owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4%

GOOGL stock traded up $2.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $180.19. The stock had a trading volume of 34,243,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,878,935. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $170.32 and a 200 day moving average of $173.46. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.