Panagora Asset Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Panagora Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 2.1%, holding approximately 1.0% of the company's shares, valued at $207.7 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their positions in Alphabet during the first quarter, with Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosting its holdings by 111.8%.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly EPS of $2.31, exceeding analyst estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share with a yield of 0.4%.

Panagora Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,329,250 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 28,482 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.0% of Panagora Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Panagora Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $207,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position 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 buying 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Five equities 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $1.16 on Friday, hitting $213.53. The stock had a trading volume of 24,667,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,823,590. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $191.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.41. The company has a market cap of $2.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $215.34.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.