Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Sells 6,836 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Freestone Capital Holdings LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.6%, selling 6,836 shares, which now represent approximately 1.5% of its investment portfolio.
• A number of investors, including Guardian Wealth Management Inc. and NBZ Investment Advisors LLC, have significantly increased their holdings in Alphabet during the first quarter.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with Barclays setting a new target at $235.00, reflecting a positive outlook on the company's stock performance.

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 255,868 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,836 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.5% of Freestone Capital Holdings LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $199.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.27, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.37. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at $492,281,408.64. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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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