Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,538 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,034 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $168.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00.

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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.