Wedgewood Partners Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wedgewood Partners Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 247,035 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 10,488 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 9.2% of Wedgewood Partners Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Wedgewood Partners Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $46,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4%

GOOGL opened at $166.19 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $158.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

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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