Ashford Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ashford Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,420 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. M. Kraus & Co grew its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Aire Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays raised their target price on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at $403,141,173.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,728,640.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares in the company, valued at $403,141,173.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 99,126 shares of company stock worth $17,617,549. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $170.76 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $178.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.14. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.