Golden State Wealth Management LLC Sells 241 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 54,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 241 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.3% of Golden State Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Golden State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $168.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.08. 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 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.