Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,010 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,759 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burt Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Perritt Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,249,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Enzi Wealth raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $180.19. 34,243,157 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,915,001. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $170.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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 an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.61.

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.