Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 784 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.2% of Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $975,000. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.3% during the first quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 1,777 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. Coordinated Financial Services Inc. CO purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $492,000. Finally, Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the first quarter. Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. now owns 539,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $83,470,000 after purchasing an additional 16,150 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.33.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $235.00 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $235.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.