Unigestion Holding SA Sells 33,764 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Unigestion Holding SA lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 37.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,735 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 33,764 shares during the quarter. Unigestion Holding SA's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $5.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $173.68. The stock had a trading volume of 35,701,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,162,270. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $160.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.