Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Decreased by Douglas Lane & Associates LLC

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 257,496 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 19,033 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Five investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.26.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

GOOGL stock opened at $179.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.35 and a 52-week high of $180.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $170.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.