Pennant Select LLC Sells 11,000 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Pennant Select LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 20.2%, selling 11,000 shares in the first quarter, resulting in ownership of 43,500 shares valued at approximately $6.73 million.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a payout ratio of 8.95% and an annualized yield of 0.4%.
• The stock has received several analyst upgrades, with price targets ranging from $191.00 to $232.00, reflecting a general consensus of a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts.

Pennant Select LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 20.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,500 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 11,000 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 5.2% of Pennant Select LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Pennant Select LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 307.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,593,201,000 after purchasing an additional 7,774,811 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,375,509,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 222,210 shares of company stock worth $41,742,155 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. 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, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Westpark Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $219.11.

Alphabet Stock Up 9.1%

Alphabet stock traded up $19.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $230.66. The stock had a trading volume of 102,180,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,658,316. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $231.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Alphabet 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.