Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Sells 12,812 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 68.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,035 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,812 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $933,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.9%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $6.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $166.64. The stock had a trading volume of 75,073,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,587,197. 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 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50 day moving average is $164.77 and its 200-day moving average is $174.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.