Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by GMT Capital Corp

Key Points

• GMT Capital Corp reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 1.1%, selling 5,200 shares and now holds 464,800 shares, valued at approximately $72.6 million.
• Alphabet's recent earnings report revealed an EPS of $2.31, surpassing analyst expectations of $2.12, with a 13.8% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

GMT Capital Corp reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 464,800 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,200 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.9% of GMT Capital Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. GMT Capital Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $72,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $96,465,000 after purchasing an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,112 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,877,000 after purchasing an additional 8,252 shares during the last quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $612,000. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 122,591 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $23,346,000 after purchasing an additional 3,537 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

GOOG stock traded up $1.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $213.53. 24,667,279 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,823,590. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $215.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. 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 presently 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.