Canopy Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Canopy Partners LLC has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.9%, selling 1,483 shares and holding 36,968 shares valued at approximately $5.7 million.
• Insider transactions included John Kent Walker selling 23,820 shares, resulting in a 35.65% decrease in his ownership, and an overall total of 273,219 shares sold by insiders worth about $49.5 million in the last ninety days.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.4%, expected to be paid on September 15th.

Canopy Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,968 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,483 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.2% of Canopy Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Canopy Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Miller Investment Management LP boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Miller Investment Management LP now owns 91,375 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $14,130,000 after purchasing an additional 4,070 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 303,207 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,888,000 after acquiring an additional 11,000 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 63,927 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,886,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares during the period. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 23,817 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,386 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 112,999 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,474,000 after acquiring an additional 4,732 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $196.52. The stock had a trading volume of 26,014,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,916,484. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.