Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Trimmed by Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC

Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 238 shares during the quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after buying an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after buying an additional 6,010,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 143.7% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,288,201,000 after buying an additional 4,170,229 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.08.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $159.81 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.13. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $191.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.