Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. Sells 1,223,551 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Pershing Square Capital Management reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 16.2% during the first quarter, retaining approximately 6.3 million shares which accounts for 8.3% of their investment portfolio.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.4% with a low payout ratio of 8.95%.
• Despite some hedge funds and institutional investors modifying their holdings, insiders at Alphabet have executed significant stock sales, with CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares valued at over $7 million.

Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,324,031 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,223,551 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 8.3% of Pershing Square Capital Management L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. owned 0.05% of Alphabet worth $988,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. jvl associates llc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 10,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Members Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 84.7% during the first quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 4,999 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,292 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $227.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $2.51 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $235.17. The stock had a trading volume of 26,091,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,956,284. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $236.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by 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.