Strategic Investment Advisors MI Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Strategic Investment Advisors MI lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 55,735 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,582 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

GOOGL stock traded down $1.41 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $177.12. The company had a trading volume of 11,447,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,177,392. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $166.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.26.

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, topping 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898. 11.55% 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.