Columbia Asset Management Sells 2,440 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Columbia Asset Management reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 80,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,440 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.4% of Columbia Asset Management’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. increased its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth 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 period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $168.05 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $159.54 and its 200 day moving average is $174.43. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.