Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Essex LLC

Essex LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,017 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,014 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.8% of Essex LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Essex LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.08 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.70 and a 200-day moving average of $173.77. 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 company has a market capitalization 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 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS 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.