Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC Sells 23,720 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.4%, now holding 664,902 shares worth approximately $102.8 million.
• Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet at an average price of $203.79, while insider selling totaled 274,819 shares worth nearly $50 million in the last three months.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an annualized rate of $0.84, resulting in a 0.4% dividend yield.

Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 664,902 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 23,720 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.3% of Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $102,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Ten research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $203.90 on Friday. 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 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $184.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend 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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