Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Trimmed by Littlejohn Financial Services Inc.

Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 76.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 9,118 shares during the quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $436,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors 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 approximately $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the 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 approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% 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, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,570,192.16. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.