Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.9% in the first quarter, holding 134,299 shares valued at approximately $20.77 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their positions in Alphabet, with Guardian Wealth Management raising its holdings by 242.9% during the same quarter.
• Research analysts have set a consensus price target of $222.33 for Alphabet, with four analysts rating it as a "Strong Buy."

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 134,299 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,220 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the first quarter. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,437,980 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $686,289,000 after buying an additional 451,492 shares during the period. Petrus Trust Company LTA raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1,989.0% in the first quarter. Petrus Trust Company LTA now owns 68,415 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,580,000 after buying an additional 65,140 shares during the period. Pingora Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24.1% in the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.9% in the first quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 27,557 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,261,000 after buying an additional 2,006 shares during the period. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.1% in the first quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 1,627,231 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $251,635,000 after buying an additional 175,049 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4%

GOOGL stock traded down $0.96 during trading on Monday, hitting $234.04. 32,427,222 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 34,085,072. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $238.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $196.95 and a 200-day moving average of $175.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Roth Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $221.44.

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.