Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Lessened by Private Management Group Inc.

Private Management Group Inc. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 190,640 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 44,611 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Meritage Group LP lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 165.8% during the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 301.5% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.86 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.71 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

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.