Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 93,930 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,562,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 93,930 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.7% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $674,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.1% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Leeward Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.4% during the third quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 32,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the period. Garrison Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the third quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 29,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009 shares during the period. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. boosted its position in Alphabet by 13.9% during the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 587,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $97,414,000 after purchasing an additional 71,651 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. 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 is $185.05 and its 200-day moving average is $176.58. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.08 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

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.