Menlo Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Menlo Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,273 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 620 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 4.7% of Menlo Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Menlo Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $173.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.