Ardsley Advisory Partners LP Sells 57,100 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Ardsley Advisory Partners LP drastically reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 95% during Q1, selling 57,100 shares, and now holds just 3,000 shares valued at approximately $469,000.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, made significant changes to their positions in Alphabet, with GAMMA increasing its stake by over 18,000%.
• Alphabet reported earnings exceeding analysts' expectations with a quarterly revenue of $96.43 billion, achieving a 13.8% increase year-over-year, alongside a planned quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share.

Ardsley Advisory Partners LP decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 95.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 57,100 shares during the quarter. Ardsley Advisory Partners LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 value of $122,274.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" 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 given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $227.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG traded up $2.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $235.17. 26,091,032 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,868,892. The company has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 1.57 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $236.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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