Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by VeraBank N.A.

VeraBank N.A. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,283 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of VeraBank N.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 73,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,873,000 after acquiring an additional 13,564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $201.96 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $182.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.22.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.