Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by MBL Wealth LLC

MBL Wealth LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,615 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. MBL Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th 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 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position 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 and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $174.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. 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 report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $15.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $171.95. 64,665,299 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $147.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.39. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.54 and a 12-month high of $174.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.