Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,038 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,779 shares during the period. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,326,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors increased its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 9,048 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,421,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 9,339 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 148,860 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,020,000 after buying an additional 3,269 shares during the last quarter. Maia Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the first quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 33,318 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,300,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cove Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.3% in the first quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 30,859 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,772,000 after buying an additional 8,868 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Guggenheim increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $199.75. 19,647,085 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 33,974,156. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.37. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

About Alphabet

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.