Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Trimmed by Bellecapital International Ltd.

Bellecapital International Ltd. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 130,671 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,466 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 4.0% of Bellecapital International Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Bellecapital International Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $174.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $162.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.61. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.