Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by GHP Investment Advisors Inc.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,850 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 504 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.9%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $178.53 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $166.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.