Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Charles Schwab Trust Co

Charles Schwab Trust Co cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 43.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,336 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,610 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $168.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $159.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.43. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm 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, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Susquehanna cut their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Ten equities research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 quarter, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.