Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Position Lessened by Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.

Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 296 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weik Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Roth Mkm lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.41.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $154.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $102.63 and a 1-year high of $160.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482 in the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.