Cannell & Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cannell & Co. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,824 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meritage Group LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% in the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Armor Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. IAG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 55.9% in the 4th quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush raised their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $3,219,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,355,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $336,980,728.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $3,219,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,355,191 shares in the company, valued at $336,980,728.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $169.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $107.93 and a 52 week high of $174.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.01.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

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.