Ashford Capital Management Inc. Has $1.66 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Ashford Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 22.4% in the 1st quarter, now owning 10,730 shares valued at approximately $1.66 million.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock, which represented a 1.25% decrease in his ownership, while 254,710 shares were sold by insiders in total during the last ninety days.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Alphabet, with an average target of $211.53, while most have rated the stock as a Moderate Buy.

Ashford Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 22.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,730 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,090 shares during the quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $4,317,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.79.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $2.97 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $209.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,414,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,125,898. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $191.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $2.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $214.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.