Peregrine Capital Management LLC Sells 19,434 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 533,241 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 19,434 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.7% of Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $82,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Perritt Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,249,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanlon Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet 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 approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $168.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.