Brown Shipley& Co Ltd Sells 2,298 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 49,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,298 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 4.6% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,455,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 46,084 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,000 after buying an additional 3,321 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $168.56 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $158.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.