Investmark Advisory Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Investmark Advisory Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 44.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,130 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,710 shares during the period. Investmark Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $168.56 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $158.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.88. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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