Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 261 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.2% of Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $5,483,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $178.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $161.08 and a 200 day moving average of $174.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. 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 earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. 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 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. DA Davidson lowered their target price 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.