Exeter Financial LLC Sells 199 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Exeter Financial LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,789 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 199 shares during the quarter. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $15,441,917,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,910,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,876,605,000 after acquiring an additional 874,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,408,933 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,247,868,000 after acquiring an additional 686,514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $182.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $172.85 and its 200 day moving average is $154.14. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.35 and a 1 year high of $186.05.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price target (down previously from $182.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.66.

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.