Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 68.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 12,812 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.71. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.