Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd’s 4th Largest Position

JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 45.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 278,805 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 228,862 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.5% of JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $169.73 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.10 and its 200 day moving average is $174.56.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. 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%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’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 value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

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.