James Investment Research Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

James Investment Research Inc. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,416 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 14,300 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.6% of James Investment Research Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. James Investment Research Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $1.94 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $192.17. The stock had a trading volume of 74,740,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,272,972. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.22% and a net margin of 31.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.32.

Alphabet Company 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.