Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by CCM Investment Advisers LLC

CCM Investment Advisers LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 149,964 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,932 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.8% of CCM Investment Advisers LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. CCM Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the first quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 34,005 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Puff Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. Puff Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,309 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105 shares during the period. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 42.6% in the 1st quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Randolph Co Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Randolph Co Inc now owns 28,699 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,438,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Bensler LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 104,668 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $16,186,000 after purchasing an additional 2,596 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%

GOOGL traded down $1.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $174.67. The stock had a trading volume of 27,636,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,440,616. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.