Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Columbia Asset Management's 6th Largest Position

Columbia Asset Management cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 80,361 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,440 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.4% of Columbia Asset Management's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $5.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $173.68. The stock had a trading volume of 35,701,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,134,353. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day moving average is $159.81 and its 200 day moving average is $174.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,587,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.