GTS Securities LLC Sells 1,032,021 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GTS Securities LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 94.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,998 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,032,021 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.5% of GTS Securities LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. GTS Securities LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,054 shares of company stock worth $17,722,605 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $170.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.89. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.