Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,785 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 625 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 7.3% of Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in 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 period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho dropped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $147.67 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.