Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Biondo Investment Advisors LLC

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 181,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,468 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 4.7% of Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. State Street Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 50,615,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,581,427,000 after buying an additional 757,138 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $175.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.93. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.38 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DZ Bank lowered shares of 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. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Company 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.