Pollock Investment Advisors LLC Sells 2,460 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Pollock Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 31.2%, selling 2,460 shares and retaining a total of 5,430 shares valued at approximately $848,000.
• Insiders have sold a total of 274,819 shares of Alphabet's stock in the last ninety days, with significant sales by insiders John Kent Walker and John L. Hennessy, leading to decreases in their respective ownerships.
• Alphabet's quarterly earnings report showed an earnings per share of $2.31, surpassing estimates, and the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share to be paid on September 15th.

Pollock Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 31.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,430 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,460 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.7% of Pollock Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,494,655,000 after acquiring an additional 769,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,827,999 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,870,944,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467,805 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 sale, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $8.1750 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $208.7950. 17,060,194 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,672,799. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $187.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.87. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.79. The company has a market capitalization of $2.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.