GTS Securities LLC Sells 1,032,021 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GTS Securities LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 94.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 55,998 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,032,021 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.5% of GTS Securities LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,455,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Joule Financial LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 13,028 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,466,000 after buying an additional 2,392 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.1%

GOOGL stock traded up $3.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.03. The company had a trading volume of 18,916,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,708,248. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $158.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.76. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.