BSW Wealth Partners Sells 4,419 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

BSW Wealth Partners lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,419 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $168.36 and a 200-day moving average of $174.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.95.

Alphabet 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.