Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 26.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,113 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 14,764 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $39,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $185.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $172.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $171.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.68.

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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