Cullen Investment Group LTD. Sells 2,068 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 16.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,472 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,068 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Burt Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $2.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $169.73. The stock had a trading volume of 52,598,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,980,554. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The business's 50 day moving average is $159.12 and its 200 day moving average is $174.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.