Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,452,029.28. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 228,070 shares of company stock worth $37,745,632. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.83.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $166.77 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $165.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.61. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. 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.