Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.9% to own approximately 1,459,446 shares, making it the firm's 3rd largest position at a value of around $228 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their holdings in Alphabet, with Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosting its stake by 111.8% in the first quarter.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an upcoming ex-dividend date of September 8, representing an annual yield of 0.4%.

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,459,446 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 13,038 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 4.3% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $228,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $235.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $6.10 on Friday, reaching $206.72. 25,689,130 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,873,476. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $187.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.60. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $209.23. 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:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% 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.