Nicholas Wealth LLC. Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Nicholas Wealth LLC. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,208 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 719 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of Nicholas Wealth LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Nicholas Wealth LLC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.39.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $189.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $178.32 and a 200 day moving average of $173.12.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.