LGT Capital Partners LTD. Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,153,245 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 101,678 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 7.9% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. LGT Capital Partners LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $178,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.5%

GOOGL opened at $201.42 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.98. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.

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