Palouse Capital Management Inc. Has $1.68 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,872 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 398 shares during the quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $174.67 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.68. 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 cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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 stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Company 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.