Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Trimmed by Venator Management LLC

Venator Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 470 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 6.4% of Venator Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Venator Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.2%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $206.09 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $208.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $186.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.