Blue Chip Partners LLC Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Blue Chip Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,530 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,606,670,000 after acquiring an additional 5,336,359 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $407,367,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $168.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $150.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.58. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $105.16 and a 52-week high of $174.71. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

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.