Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Menlo Advisors LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Menlo Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 64,273 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 620 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 4.7% of Menlo Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Menlo Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $173.68 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% 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, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,570,192.16. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.