WestEnd Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

WestEnd Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 116,802 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,892 shares during the quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $2.43 on Tuesday, hitting $174.36. The stock had a trading volume of 40,396,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,679,368. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company's 50 day moving average price is $169.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. KeyCorp 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. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. JMP Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.