Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Wambolt & Associates LLC

Wambolt & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,259 shares during the quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nia Impact Advisors LLC grew 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 valued at $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Enzi Wealth grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas Exane restated a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $202.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Alphabet Company 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.