Blair William & Co. IL Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,525,136 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 59,067 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.2% of Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $445,005,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $253.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $256.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $231.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.24.

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.