Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Position Trimmed by State of Wyoming

Key Points

• The State of Wyoming reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. by 5.3% in the first quarter, now holding 30,251 shares worth approximately $4.7 million.
• A significant increase in ownership was noted from institutional investors, with 27.26% of Alphabet's stock now held by these entities, including a massive stake increase by GAMMA Investing LLC.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly EPS of $2.31, surpassing estimates, and announced a $0.21 quarterly dividend for shareholders, reflecting a 0.4% dividend yield.

State of Wyoming cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,251 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.6% of State of Wyoming's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. State of Wyoming's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position 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 buying an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $786,942,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $212.37 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $190.40 and its 200-day moving average is $175.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $212.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,608 shares of company stock valued at $47,204,035. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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