waypoint wealth counsel Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

waypoint wealth counsel reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,591 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 192 shares during the period. waypoint wealth counsel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after buying an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,344,778,000 after acquiring an additional 597,756 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total value of $3,973,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,235,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $394,746,532.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,823,893 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $165.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $174.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $163.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

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.