Hoey Investments Inc. Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hoey Investments Inc. trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 24.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,268 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 412 shares during the period. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $174.67 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.68. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.