North Star Asset Management Inc. Sells 191 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

North Star Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,689 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 191 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Perritt Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,249,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Enzi Wealth lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $196.09 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $179.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.