Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 65.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,757 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 29,966 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $35,682,228. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten equities research 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, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.95.
View Our Latest Analysis on GOOGL
Alphabet Price Performance
Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $175.84. The company had a trading volume of 35,649,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,454,936. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $167.50 and a 200-day moving average of $174.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
Alphabet Profile
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Free Report)
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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