Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Tikvah Management LLC

Key Points

• Tikvah Management LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 3.4% in Q1, now owning 213,150 shares worth approximately $32.96 million.
• Several large investors, including Nuveen LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, have significantly increased their stakes in Alphabet during the first quarter, with GAMMA's position rising by over 16,993%.
• Alphabet's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $2.31, exceeding estimates, while the company also declared a upcoming $0.21 quarterly dividend for shareholders.

Tikvah Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 213,150 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,450 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 11.6% of Tikvah Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Tikvah Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $206.09 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $186.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.37. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $208.54. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given 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 yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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