Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,467,629 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 40,619 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.8% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $226,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $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 worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $170.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50 day moving average price is $165.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.58. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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