Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 953,604 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 9,243 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.5% of Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $147,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $170.68 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,555,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $451,452,029.28. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 216,306 shares of company stock valued at $35,782,927. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.