Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. Sells 12,218 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,407 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,218 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.1% of Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $206.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $177.56 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock's 50 day moving average is $170.28 and its 200-day moving average is $175.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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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