Tufton Capital Management Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Tufton Capital Management cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 568 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $343.00 price target (up from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. HSBC raised their price objective on Alphabet from $295.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.10.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $276.41 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $257.24 and its 200 day moving average is $208.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $292.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total transaction of $145,752.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,242,778.72. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is 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.