GSB Wealth Management LLC Has $2.18 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GSB Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 544 shares during the period. GSB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th 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. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $173.32 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $164.58 and its 200 day moving average is $174.75. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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 value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.