Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Eldred Rock Partners LLC

Key Points

• Eldred Rock Partners LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 5.1% in the second quarter, valuing its holdings at approximately $16.06 million.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their price targets for Alphabet, with Barclays raising its target to $250.00 and Tigress Financial increasing their target to $280.00.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares at an average price of $229.73, resulting in a 1.32% decrease in his ownership.

Eldred Rock Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,127 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,880 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.9% of Eldred Rock Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Eldred Rock Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp raised their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.54.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.69 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $254.72. The company had a trading volume of 55,452,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,316,584. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50 day moving average price is $209.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.