Emerald Advisers LLC Sells 4,622 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Emerald Advisers LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 19.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,081 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,622 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $185.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.68.

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.

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