Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 95.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,691 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 306,300 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average of $176.93. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.38 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.