WestEnd Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 116,802 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,892 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1,563.8% during the 1st quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 488,942 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 459,555 shares in the last quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,431 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,335,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 479,103 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $74,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares in the last quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 58,598 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,062,000 after purchasing an additional 4,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wall Street Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $223,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%
NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $168.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.
View Our Latest Stock Report on GOOGL
About Alphabet
(
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.
Further Reading
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