Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Lowered by Davidson Investment Advisors

Davidson Investment Advisors reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,430 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 710 shares during the period. Davidson Investment Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 143.7% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,288,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,170,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $154.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.36. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS 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 is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Argus increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.76.

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.