Lbp Am Sa Sells 78,492 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

LBP AM SA lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 906,722 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 78,492 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.2% of LBP AM SA's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. LBP AM SA's holdings in Alphabet were worth $140,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,249,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Enzi Wealth increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $203.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.68.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $185.06. The company had a trading volume of 33,864,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,124,723. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $172.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.