Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Wealth Effects LLC

Wealth Effects LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,780 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,571 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.0% of Wealth Effects LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. River Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 14,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 60.5% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 62,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,478,000 after purchasing an additional 23,684 shares during the period. Avalon Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.0% during the first quarter. Avalon Capital Management now owns 193,631 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,225,000 after purchasing an additional 17,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,207,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.9 %

GOOGL stock opened at $171.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.68 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.79.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 219,744 shares of company stock worth $35,878,764. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.51.

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.