Old North State Trust LLC Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Old North State Trust LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in 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 buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6%

GOOGL opened at $172.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $158.87 and a 200-day moving average of $174.75.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. 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. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.