Center for Financial Planning Inc. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 24.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,971 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,931 shares during the quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $923,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Alphabet Trading Up 1.7%
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.86 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $173.54. 31,662,209 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,836,780. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50 day moving average is $165.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.17.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on GOOGL
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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