Brick & Kyle Associates Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Brick & Kyle Associates lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 73.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 42,121 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.2% of Brick & Kyle Associates’ portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Brick & Kyle Associates’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 17.9% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after buying an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $352,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $309.29 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $328.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $283.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total value of $302,418.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,721,580. This represents a 7.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $61,326,372 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective (up from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.22.

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.