Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Sells 1,425 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Levin Capital Strategies L.P. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 1.1%, selling 1,425 shares, and now holds 131,141 shares valued at approximately $20.28 million.
• Insider sales included CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives, who collectively sold over 274,000 shares worth about $49.67 million in the last 90 days.
• Several analysts upgraded their price targets for Alphabet, with new targets ranging from $220 to $240, reflecting a positive outlook on the company's stock performance.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,141 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,425 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.1% of Levin Capital Strategies L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $39,000. 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. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $1.28 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $203.24. 19,473,324 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,646,953. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $182.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.22. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.