Liberty Capital Management Inc. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 61,056 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 881 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Meritage Group LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Armor Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 55.9% during the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.26.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

GOOGL stock opened at $179.63 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.35 and a twelve month high of $180.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.55, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $170.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.56.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total transaction of $1,826,979.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 48,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total value of $1,826,979.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 48,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,365,523.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,958 shares of company stock valued at $22,383,553. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

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.