Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 266,944 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 14,043 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 3.0% of Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $41,280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $185.06 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $172.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Alphabet from $178.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $171.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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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