Court Place Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Court Place Advisors LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,497 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 149 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.0% of Court Place Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Citizens Jmp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.24.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $253.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $231.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.