Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Vident Advisory LLC

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 6.4% during the first quarter, now holding 236,483 shares valued at approximately $36.95 million.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares at an average price of $199.92, which represents a 1.30% decrease in his ownership.
• Alphabet has a consensus target price of $215.19, with most analysts rating the stock as a "Moderate Buy."

Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 236,483 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 14,312 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1,522.4% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 70,410 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,409,000 after buying an additional 66,070 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,000. Finally, Westbourne Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,992,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $122,274.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,608 shares of company stock worth $47,204,035 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $212.37 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $190.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.02. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $212.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.Alphabet's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.

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