Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 801,905 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 32,201 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.0% of Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $124,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 15.7% in the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 222,219 shares of company stock worth $40,725,772. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $199.32 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.53.

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.