Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s 6th Largest Position

Bridges Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,620,212 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,831 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.6% of Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $250,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 190,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,412,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Topsail Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 52.9% in the first quarter. Topsail Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 3,628 shares during the period. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 7.5% in the first quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the period. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.6% in the first quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD raised its position in Alphabet by 2.0% in the first quarter. OMC Financial Services LTD now owns 33,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,112,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,943 shares of company stock valued at $31,223,348. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.82.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $182.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.