Eads & Heald Wealth Management Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Eads & Heald Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,993 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 332 shares during the period. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Falcon Wealth Planning increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

GOOGL stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. The firm 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.95.

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.