Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Rice Partnership LLC

Key Points

• Rice Partnership LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) by 5.8% in Q2, holding 51,933 shares valued at approximately $9.15 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and UBS, increased their positions in Alphabet, indicating ongoing confidence in the stock.
• Alphabet recently reported strong earnings with an EPS of $2.31, surpassing estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share.

Rice Partnership LLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,933 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,201 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of Rice Partnership LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Rice Partnership LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $288.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Citizens Jmp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $252.24.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $253.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $256.96. The company has a 50-day moving average of $231.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $191.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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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