Inspire Trust Co. N.A. Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 58.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,976 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during 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. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company 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 Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $168.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $158.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.88. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.